One Step Ahead
by szynka2496
Summary: That moment when you want to watch the 'Avengers' really badly, but the ticket seller tells you there isn't such a movie and you just want to rip of his head. And then you think it can't get worse, life proves you wrong and BAM, you find yourself in the movie. I hate my life. Signed Jackie Walker. Rated T for language and other stuff... BEING REWRITTEN
1. Chapter 1

**Right, Iron Man 3 is about to come out soon and naturally I plan to write a story about it :P some time ago i went back and read all my stories again and I have to say, i cringed a lot about the things I wrote. **

**So i decided to rewrite few stuff, like changing dialogues, added more few stuff, deleted some other things, and also added some scenes outside the movie plot line that will be important for when iron man 3 and thor 2 comes out :D **

**l'll just replace the old chapters with the new one. idk if people will notice the changes, but yeah... :P**

**Thanks to Laurafxox for beta reading it for me :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter I

In Which I Didn't Get to Watch the Avengers

_Entry #1_

_You know those moments when you wake up on your first day of your summer holiday, remembering that you can still continue sleeping because you don't have to go to school for the next two months? A great feeling, isn't it?_

_And then you open the curtains, hoping to see the blue sky, with the sun shining brightly. But instead, all you get to see are dark grey clouds and heavy raindrops pounding against the window._

_Not the best start of a summer vacation, huh?_

_Signed Jackie Walker_

oOoOoOo

Three days since the summer holiday had started.

Three days since it had started to rain heavily.

Three days of thunder and lightning.

Three days of not a single person coming up with the idea to leave their comfy warm home and take a walk outside with an umbrella, knowing it won't keep you dry because the rain would come from every side anyways.

And yet, New York City's streets were filled with people and cars. They were barely visable due the downpour of rain, but you could still hear the deafening noise of loud traffic. The scenery had a touch of gray with colorful umbrellas bringing some life into the picture.

If you thought about it, it was actually the perfect weather to go to the theater. And the perfect time to finally get my lazy butt out of my apartment and watch MARVEL's _Avengers_ in 3D, with my friends.

Unfortunately all of them had left the States to go to who-knows-where. Their parents had planned lots of trips for their vacation. Of course, I had been left behind.

Abandoned, alone to suffer in this cruel world.

Okay, I was being a bit overdramatic. But that's what happens when you're most likely the only person in the whole world who hasn't seen _Avengers_ yet.

Awkward, I know. And when you think about all the people who have watched the movie more than once…

Curse you, people on Tumblr, who kept blogging about how awesome the movie was and spoiling everything for me.

I didn't really feel like watching the _Avengers_ alone. It looked stupid when you're sitting in the theater, alone in your corner, eating popcorn and silently giving some of your unnecessary comments. What's even worse was that whenever I decide to watch a movie alone in the theatre, there are always those awkward couples having a hot make-out session, And you just have the sudden urge to throw popcorn at them and tell them to go and get the hell a room.

Or perhaps it was just me and my laziness. I mean, who in their right mind would walk through the pouring rain to the theater and then sit there for two and half hours, completely soaked, just to watch a movie?

Guess I'd just have to wait, even thought I wasn't a patient person at all. I could wait until it stopped to rain, wait until my friends returned and went with me to watch the _Avengers_, or simply just wait until the DVD would come out.

Letting out a sigh, I hugged my pillow and stared out of the window - which was pretty pointless because I couldn't really see a thing through the rain - except for some blurry yellow dots. There was a thin layer of haze on my window pane. Slowly I lifted up a hand and started to doodle something with my index finger.

A line here and a quick stroke there, and the doodle was finalized in no time. I took a step back and looked at what I have drawn on the shrouded window.

A cube.

From all the things I could have doodled, I drew a small cube. I didn't know why though. I knitted my eyebrows in confusion and made some disturbing thinking noises along with it.

Somehow, the sight of the cube imprinted on the window made me feel uncomfortable. And it was just a simple cube.

Still, quickly I used the pillow to wipe the doodle away and continued using my laptop to surf the Internet. My Tumblr dashboard was filled with posts and photos about Loki. The more I scrolled through the dashboard, the more I wanted to watch the movie. After a while I shut down my laptop, frustrated.

Taking a deep breath, I promised myself that I was going to watch the movie tomorrow. Whether it was raining or not.

oOoOoOo

"_Sir, the Tesseract, it's acting up again. And we are receiving some strange signals."_

"_Try to detect where those signals come from."_

"_Understood, Sir!"_

"_Doctor Selvig, how is the research going on?"_

"_We are making progresses, but we do have problems sometimes…"_

"_Such as?"_

"_The Tesseract has its own… Mood swings. At one time it is acting up just like now and some other time it's doing nothing. A bit hard to do further research when the cube is not cooperating."_

"_I see. Please do continue your work and we'll see."_

"_Director, I have found the source of the strange signals. It's coming from New York City. It's a perfect match to the gamma signatures of the Tesseract."_

"_Good. I'll send out some agents to check if there is something out of place."_

oOoOoOo

"… What do you _mean_ you don't have the movie _Avengers_?"

"Miss, I'm telling you, there is no such movie called_ Avengers_ running in this theater, or anywhere else!"

"Bullshit!" I huffed and crossed my arms.

Yep, that was me, arguing with a really annoyed ticket seller. I bet he was tired of sitting in that small room, locked up like a cage animal, doing the same things daily: Selling tickets to movies I'm sure he'd also like to watch, but can't because he's got work to do.

That's why you shouldn't work in a place where you like to be. Just like you shouldn't work where you like to eat.

It was probably not helping with me being a real bitch right now.

"Look, dude. I know you're in a shitty mood because of various reasons, but you can't expect me to believe that an awesome movie like _Avengers_ isn't RUNNING ANYMORE OR NEVER EXISTED?!"

At this point I had already attracted lots of attention from passers by. But I could care less. All I wanted to do was to buy my ticket, sit in my seat and finally watch the damn movie. Alas, I was having a small dilemma with getting my freaking ticket.

I knew I should have made an online reservation yesterday. But then again, I didn't know that the sun would shine today. Funny how the weather can change from a downpour of rain and thunderstorms to summer heat over a single night.

"Miss," the ticket seller called out "If you're just here to make fun of me, then I highly suggest you leave now. You're blocking the waiting line." He pointed at the crowd behind me. I turned around and true enough; the people in the line were throwing dirty looks at me.

I was ready to rip off his head. Good for the ticket seller that I was not in the mood to get arrested for illegally ripping off a ticket seller's head.

I sighed in annoyance and ran a hand through my hair. "Fine, okay! I'll leave now! Because there isn't a movie called _Avengers _and I totally made it up since I had absolutely nothing better to do!" I exclaimed sarcastically and stomped off angrily. Pretty sure it had left some foot prints on the pavement.

This was going to be the worst summer vacation holiday_ ever_. First my friends were abroad, leaving me behind (not that I blame them) and now THIS? Sure, _Avengers_ had been running in theaterS for quite some time now, but it's a popular movie, so I thought it should still be running!"

Although I had to say, the guy acted pretty clueless. And honestly, I didn't see any_ Avengers _posters hanging anywhere, too. Usually every wall was just full of them.

… Eh, I was probably just making things up and over analyzing everything. Like always.

I thought of just going home and making an online reservation for the next day. A shame I couldn't watch it today though.

What did the time say? … Half past two. Hm, I didn't really want to go home now and there was nothing to do there, so I decided on taking a small walk.

Considering that yesterday there was a shit storm with badass thunder and lightning, today was a pretty nice day and the streets weren't as crowded as usual. A nice change. I wasn't fond of crowded places; I got easily annoyed when there were lots of strangers around me. What could I say; I'm not really a people person.

While walking I looked at the shop windows and at the stuff they were selling - easily getting distracted by the smell of freshly baked cakes, coffee and tea. Turning my head to the right, I looked through the next window to see what was inside. Chairs and tables could be made out, few people sitting inside and a person standing behind the counter, making coffee. There was also a staircase that lead up, which meant the café had two floors. Automatically I looked up. Over the door hung a sign: A coffee cup, where three wisps of steam were going up. The cup itself was located on a book instead of a plate. Under the logo was neatly oriented in cursive _Café Mischief_.

_Café Mischief_, I repeated silently to myself in my head and then grinned slightly. I liked that name. Maybe I should come here some time; it looked like a really comfy place. And I didn't believe it to be too crowded. Starbucks was a nice place for a cup of coffee too, but there were too many people hanging around, and sometimes it's just too much for me.

Funny how I've never noticed this café before.

I started to walk away, but before I could even pass the café I bumped into someone and landed flat on the concrete pavement. My butt didn't hurt that much, but my nose felt like I just ran into a brick wall.

"I'm sorry, Miss! I wasn't watching where I was going!" that person, definitely a male, apologized and stretched out a hand for me.

Clutching my nose in pain I took the man's hand. He had a strong grip and lifted me up with ease. The man even handed me a tissue even though my nose wasn't bleeding

"Don't worry." I forgave him "It's not your-" fault. That's what I wanted to say, but somehow the sight of the man made me swallow up my words.

I admit that my eyesight wasn't the best (I was supposed to wear glasses), but it wasn't as bad that I couldn't recognize the person who was standing in front of me.

I opened my mouth, trying to say something but no words came out. I must have looked very stupid.

The guy standing before me knitted his eyebrows in worry and inquired: "Miss, is everything alright?"

A big smile plastered over my face, roller coaster feelings replaced the disappointment from earlier. I couldn't contain my… Fangirl feelings anymore. But still, just to make sure that I was correct and not making a fool out of myself, I asked: "Are you Chris Evans?"

'Chris Evans' stared at me confused and then responded: "You must be mistaken me for someone else. My name is Steve Rogers."

I raised an eyebrow. Steve Rogers? Taking a step back I looked at him with a criticizing look from head to toe. He was wearing a brown leather jacket, old fashioned looking shoes and a green-blue shirt. It really made him look like Steve Rogers. Maybe he just got really deep into his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America and that's why he was running around like this and well, pretending to be Steve Rogers.

I looked around myself. Not many people were here, and those who were just passing by ignored us, much to my surprise, since I thought at least one person would recognize Chris Evans.

Ah well, I didn't get to see _Avengers_, so I'd just have a small chat with one of the main actors instead. It's not like you get to meet one every day.

"So, judging from your appearance," I pointed at his clothes "you must really like your role as Steve Rogers."

"I'm… Not exactly sure if I follow…" Chris Evans said, looking really confused now. "What do you mean 'role'?"

"Y'know, Captain America," I explained and ignored how he narrowed his eyes slightly "the first Avenger, fought in World War II against the Nazis, seventy years asleep in the ice, did everything just so they won't get their hands on the Tesseract? The main ro-"

He interrupted me quickly and took a step closer. "Where did you get all this information?" Out of reflex I took a step back, sensing that something was not quite right.

"Uh, I watched the movie?" I replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That is all classified."

"No, it is not." I began to protest, annoyance welling up inside me "Every fan who has watched the movie knows about it."

"What movie?" he asked dangerously. Boy, did he look serious about this whole situation. Well, he was an actor after all. Was this some prank he's trying to pull? Pretending to be Captain America just to mess with his fans? Whatever it was, I didn't like it one bit.

"I- I think I should go now…" I muttered under my breath, turned around and quickly run away.

When I heard footsteps behind me, I picked up my pace and started to sprint, not stopping until I saw my apartment building coming into my view, and then slowed down a bit. Carefully, I looked back to see if he was still behind me.

He wasn't. Phew.

I sighed in relied and stepped into my home.

Yup, that was definitely the weirdest encounter in my life.

oOoOoOo

"_Sir, please put down the spear!"_

"_You have heart… Please don't, I still need that."_

"_This doesn't have to get any messier."_

"_Of course it does. I've come too far for anything less. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."_

"_We have no quarrel with you're people."_

"_An ant has no quarrel with a boot."_

"_You're planning on stepping on us?"_

"_I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."_

"_Free from what?"_

"_Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you all accept that, in your heart… You will know peace."_

"_Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other piece."_

oOo

_Entry #2_

_Officially the weirdest and worst day in my life. I couldn't find anything about the Avengers on the Internet. Same goes for googling the other movies, like _Iron Man_, _Captain America_ or _The Incredible Hulk_. I just get some outdated articles how 'Multibillionaire Anthony Stark is Iron Man' or 'Captain America- Forever remaining in our hearts', or another article about Bruce Banner. Like they are really existing and living among us… And when I try to google the Tesseract or about the Norse myth, I just get some stupid results about treacherous software companies, or how in New Mexico there was a hammer stuck in the desert. Same problem for fanfictions. No result, and the MARVEL section wasn't even there anymore._

_If I didn't know better, I would say that _something _happened during and/or after the thunderstorm. But that's just me and my wild imagination._

_Isn't it?_

_Signed Jackie Walker_


	2. Chapter 2

**A big thank you to Lauraxfox for beta-reading this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter II

In Which I Met the Same Dude Again

_Entry #3_

_I officially give up the search. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. After two days of searching for anything MARVEL related – and finding absolutely nothing – I just give up. No matter how hard I try, nothing useful comes up on the Internet. It's like all this stuff just… Disappeared overnight. _

_Signed Jackie Walker_

oOoOoOo

God hates me.

In fact, I was pretty sure that he does. That's his punishment for never believing in him, never praying and always talking bad behind his back. He wanted me to think that I was slowly losing my mind and he enjoyed seeing me to suffer.

So he made a whole fandom disappear out of thin air. It's the only logical explanation I could think of.

But seriously, how would a person explain that a whole fandom vanished overnight, and the next day everybody pretended that there were never movies about Iron Man, Captain America or Thor? Instead, they all acted like they were real people, actually existing. It had me slightly worried, because as far as I knew, there is only _actors_ who_ played_ those fictional characters.

But after two restless nights with my laptop, ten bottles of energy drinks and lots of time consumed on creeping through different forums, I took it as a sign to gave up the search and simply let it be. I even called my friends to ask them about the movies, though none of them even had an idea what I was talking about. It made me almost throw my cell phone out of the window. Of course I decided against it, remembering that if I did that, I'd have to get a new phone.

Perhaps this was some kind of a stupid prank. Sure, usually I was the one who pulled of the pranks on my friends, and maybe this was just their little payback. An explanation, but I highly doubted that the whole Internet and everybody else would play along with it. So no, not a prank.

My second thought was, that in the most stupid fangirl imagination way, under mysterious circumstances, the movie somehow became reality and I was of course a part of it.

The End.

… I've been reading too many self-insert fanfictions.

This is real life, and I am not going to end up in some movie, fall in love with the main character and then live happily ever after.

Letting out a frustrated groan, I let myself fall back into my pillows and stared at the ceiling for a long time. The noise of traffic reached my ear, making my head ache slightly. Unwillingly I stood up to close the window, but then reminded myself I opened it so I could get some fresh air. The sun shone into my room, warming everything up.

That's when I decided to get out and take a walk, clear my mind and over think the whole situation I was in. Being cooped up in my room wasn't any good for me.

As I walked out of my apartment, my eyes fell on the bin that was now full with empty energy drink bottles. I couldn't stand the taste of coffee, so whenever I need caffeine to keep me awake energy drink seemed liked superman to me. The thought of coffee made my mind wander back to the café I saw couple of days ago.

What was the name again? Café Mischief, right.

Might as well take a look at it.

oOo

I thought this kind of stuff only happened in bad stories or movies with an even worse plot.

I admit that I didn't pay a lot of attention during school. I knew for sure that New York City definitely had over a million inhabitants, and if I've calculated correctly, the chance of meeting the same person twice in two to three days was from zero to nothing.

Well, apparently I was wrong. Not sure if it's because I did the math wrong or God was just trying to prove me wrong again, either way it wasn't funny at all.

Currently I was sitting in Starbucks, with an untouched brownie in front of me. If it wasn't for the fact that I had those negative roller coaster feelings in my stomach, I would have already eaten three brownies. I clutched my tummy with both arms, thinking it would somehow ease the feeling.

Sitting opposite of me was another person. A man to be exact, who ordered a black coffee, but didn't touch it either. We both were wasting good food.

Brownies for those who can guess with who I was sitting at Starbucks.

The one and only Chris Evans. Or Steve Rogers. Or whoever the hell he was now. We just had a spontaneous therapy hour, more or less forced. He was sitting there with his arms crossed, looking lost in thoughts. I was biting my lower lip nervously, not sure what to say.

You see, after my oh-so-wonderful decision to go out for a walk, I somehow bumped into him again. He was just as surprised as I. Of course being the big coward I was I tried to run away. But before I could even move two meters, he had grabbed my arm in a strong grip. Not painful, but still strong. I could tell from the grip he wanted to talk to me.

Call it 'female intuition'.

I then told him we should go to Starbucks, because it was a public place with lots of customers, so it'd be less likely he would do something that could hurt me.

Steve (I'm just going to call him by this name due his clothes) didn't beat around the bush for all too long. He went straight to the point and asked me how I knew that he was Captain America et cetera.

It confused me to the point that I wasn't sure anymore if it was Chris Evans sitting in front of me or Steve Rogers. He sure acted, talked and behaved like Steve according to the movie. It's like Steve Rogers was real, and Chris Evans didn't exist at all.

"Are you really… _Steve Rogers_?" I asked hesitantly.

He inhaled deeply like he had to think his answer carefully through. Turning away he faced the window, replying: "I can't help but have the feeling your question has got an entire different meaning." Although he used a quite polite tone, there was still a bit harshness in it.

"So… you_ are_ Steve Rogers." I concluded rather out of nowhere.

He raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for me to explain what exactly I meant with that conclusion, while taking a sip from his coffee. The coffee probably got cold already seeing as he grimaced at the taste slightly.

I took a deep breath. "Are you Chris Evans, or Steve Rogers AKA Captain America?"

Chris/Steve put his cup of coffee down and looked at me with a serious face. "Ma'am, I have no idea who Chris Evans is. I can assure you I am Steve Rogers, though I don't know where you got all the classified information about what happened to me… And the Tesseract."

Right now I really want to stand up, point rudely at his face and shout at him he should stop the whole act. But the look on his face told me I should believe him. And quite honestly, I was starting to wonder why no one had come up and asked for an autograph or a photo from Chris Evans yet. I would have already done that if it wasn't for the situation I was in at the moment.

Back to his question.

I scratched my cheek and repeated the same answer from few days ago, though it came out rather more like a question: "I've been watching all the movies?"

"I remember you said something similar the last time. What movies exactly?"

"Mmhhh…" I pressed my lips into a thin line and listed all the movies from MARVEL I've watched so far. The more I named, the higher Steve's eyebrow rose.

"And… What are all those movies about?" he finally inquired.

I felt like I was in school again. He, the teacher, was bombarding me with questions about something I wasn't all-too familiar with, and I was basically cornered with no way out, and I couldn't answer the questions, since I didn't pay any attention.

"Kind of hard to explain for me right now since I have bad short term memory… But I can try to say the most important parts."

"Please do that."

"Which movie?"

"The… Captain America one."

Figures. I started to tell him everything I remembered about the movies. How the Brooklyn boy Steve Rogers didn't get into the army first, and later volunteered willingly for an experiment that would change his life forever, how he fought against the Germans and how he sank a whole aircraft into the Arctic Ocean and woke up after seventy years.

After finishing my small tale I leaned back into my chair and held my breath, waiting for any sort of reaction out of him. Steve Rogers had a sad and distant look on his face, like he was completely somewhere else with his mind. No one said anything for a while and we just sat there in an uncomfortable silence. Uncomfortable for me at least.

Deciding that I had enough 'fresh air' for today, I stood up, grabbed my uneaten brownie and announced: "I need to go now. Fancy seeing you again." Not.

He also stood up and reached out a hand. I shook it goodbye, and outside we parted our ways. Well, he walked away. I stood there for the next fifteen minutes; my brain kept hitting the replay button about what just happened. As I savored the taste of my chocolate brownie, I suddenly remembered the_ actual_ reason why I left my home in the first place.

Damn Rogers, getting me distracted.

Well, time to check out that café.

oOoOoOo

"_Agent, how is Steve Rogers doing?"_

"_He's slowly adapting to his new surroundings, Director Fury."_

"_Did something happen?"_

"_He went to Starbucks with a teenager."_

"_A teenager?"_

"_A girl, to be more precise."_

"_I see. Anything else?"_

"_Well, it seems like the girl had some classified information and knowledge about Steve Rogers' past. The Tesseract was also mentioned several times."_

"_The Tesseract? Are you sure?"_

"_Positive, sir."_

"… _Keep an eye on her. I will talk to Rogers later."_

"_Understood, Director Fury!"_

"_And try to gather as much information as possible about that girl."_

oOoOoOo

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door to Café Mischief was the sound of a bell ringing, signalizing that someone had entered the shop. The smell of dough lingered in the air and the sound of a piano playing rang out of the speakers. I recognized the tune as something from Chopin.

Admittedly I wasn't a big fan of Chopin. Since trying to learn that one Impromptu of his I tried to avoid playing Chopin as much as possible.

Closing the door behind me, I walked up the two stairs. The floor was made of dark wood, combined with a green-gold striped wall. Pictures hung on the wall. On taking a closer look, those pictures looked more like ripped off pages from a very old book. What I found interesting were the illustrations and the text. I didn't know what it read, but I knew they were runes.

Tearing my eyes off from the pictures, I let my eyes wander around the room. There were no customers at the moment, and strangely also no worker.

… Okay, might as well leave now.

Just as I was about to turn around and walk out of the café, footsteps descended down from the stairs. A man, holding a high stack of books, came down.

Why was he carrying so many books? Did he live upstairs?

I stepped aside so he could have more space to walk. With a relieved sigh he put the books on the bar counter and used a napkin to wipe off the sweat on his forehead.

He was young. Not in a my-age-young, but a fresh-college-student-way young. Brown-blonde hair, grayish blue eyes and stubble.

It seemed like he didn't even notice me until he turned around, ready to walk up the stairs again, but then saw me standing there totally out of place.

Surprise was written all over his face, but he quickly replaced it with a welcoming smile. "Sorry, I didn't hear you coming. Normally there aren't any customers around this time. What can I do for you?"

At first I had no idea what to say. Actually I came here just to see how it looked like from the inside, since I've never seen this place before. I found it odd because I always passed this street at least twice a day. Well, I guess it would be rude of me just to walk away now without ordering something. I remember in a game called _The World Ends With You_, every time when you entered a store or a restaurant and left without buying anything, the sellers would usually give out some nasty comments. It made me even felt more guilty browsing stores and not buying anything in real life.

So I quietly scanned the menu that was hanging nicely framed on the wall, and decided for a 'Frost cold chocolate milkshake'.

At the word 'frost' I had to think of the MARVEL movie _Thor_. Now that I looked at the other things this café was offering, they were all somehow related to the Norse mythology. 'Apple of Idum cake', 'Vanaheimr's bubble tea' et cetera.

The thought of all this myth stuff made me think about what just happened not even an hour ago.

Damn, was that really Steve Rogers I talked to? I'm still having a hard time processing all those things.

As the guy stood behind the counter, working on my chocolate milkshake, he noticed how intensely I studied the menu plan. "Your first time here." He pointed out, casually starting a conversation. It wasn't a question, rather a statement.

"Yeah, how do you know that?" I asked back and randomly took a book from the stack. It was a pocket size book with dark blue leather bounding. No title and no author.

"Most customers who come here are regular customers." He explained and added what looked like a piece of chocolate into the cup "So I know most of my customers."

I'll take that since he knew most of them he doesn't get a lots of customers. Instead of continuing the conversation I opened the book. There was a stamp inside it, saying it belonged to the library of Café Mischief.

So upstairs was a library? That would explain the book on the logo, I guess.

I flipped through the book. It was written in another language and sometimes I stopped here and there to look at the drawings. Most of the things didn't interest me though, until I saw a drawing of a crystal blue cube. The quick sight of it made my heart skip a beat. Automatically I flipped back to the page and stared at the drawing. It reminded me of the Tesseract somehow. Furrowing my eyebrows, I scanned the text quickly just to see if there was at least one thing I could understand. Without any result I shut the book and then put it away.

The worker noticed that and commented: "Not your taste of literature?"

"I can't read it." I simply replied and took out my money to pay for the chocolate milkshake. Taking a sip from it, I was mildly surprised at how good it tasted. It was the perfect cold drink for a hot summer day, like today (even though it rained not long ago). It wasn't too sweet or too tasteless.

"Don't be a stranger!" The guy waved goodbye as I stepped out of the café.

Putting on a half smile, I responded: "I'll try to come again tomorrow."

At that he started to smile strangely, like he knew something I didn't, and asked: "Are you sure you'll have time tomorrow?"

Completely thrown off guard by that question, I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and wondered what he meant by that. Why shouldn't I be able to come again tomorrow?

Shaking my head I took another sip from my milkshake and walked home.

It seemed like I had completely forgotten my talk with Steve Rogers until later at home when I couldn't find my favorite Spider-Man t-shirt anymore.

* * *

**I came up with café Mischief while writing that LOCKIE one shot and I actually grew quite fond on it (mainly because I've always wanted to have an own cafe shop with a library :D)**


	3. Chapter 3

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN**

**Thanks to Laurafxox for beta reading it :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter III

In Which I Kind of Got Arrested

"_Trouble Sleeping?"_

"_I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill."_

"_Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world."_

"_I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."_

"_We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently."_

"_You here with a mission, sir?"_

"_I am."_

"_Trying to get me back in the world?"_

"_Trying to save it."_

"_HYDRA's secret weapon."_

"_Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think; the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."_

"_Who took it from you?"_

"_He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."_

"_At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."_

"_Ten bucks says you're wrong."_

"… _I met a strange person today."_

"_So I've heard."_

"_They knew who I was."_

"_What did she tell you about the Tesseract?"_

"…_?!"_

"_We've sent people out to watch over you, and one agent reported she apparently had some information about the Tesseract."_

"_She knew a few things, but was also very scared. I doubt she'll be a threat."_

"_Looks can be deceiving. I have already sent an agent out to retrieve her."_

"…"

"_Is there anything else you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"_

"_You should have left it in the ocean."_

oOoOoOo

I sneezed.

Once.

Twice.

And for a third time.

Don't worry, I didn't catch a cold. Somebody was merely thinking about me.

Or so they say.

I admit that I am slightly worried. Although I haven't watched _Avengers_ yet, I have indeed read the plot summary on Wikipedia and several fan fictions about it. It was a bad habit of mine to check the plot summary of a book and/or movie first before actually reading/watching it. Basically I knew what was going to happen soon.

And I didn't like it a bit.

Let's say that hypothetically the movie really became reality and I'm stuck in it with no way out, and in the worst Mary-Sueish way I somehow got dragged into this whole let's-kick-Loki's-butt-and-save-the-world-business and possibly have to face a life and death situation, what was going to happen to me? What if I die? Am I going to wake up and realize that this all was just a dream? Because this doesn't feel like a dream at all.

But what if I got stuck here forever and ever and I change the movie events so that Loki really conquered Earth? That would be really bad.

Another thing was that Steve Rogers dude. It's probably the best for me to forget about him, but still I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually wise to tell him all that stuff I knew. Really, sooner or later something bad will happen to me.

Third problem: The Chitauri.

The closest thing I knew to self-defense was kneeing boys in the balls or performing some really bad karate stunts from movies. But I doubt those things would save my life.

I've been wasting quite a few hours now just thinking about those three 'problems'.

And another thing that got me rather worried was the now empty milkshake cup from yesterday. It seemed like the guy wrote something on it. But unfortunately he used ink and since my hand was a bit sweaty due the heat the writing smudged, making it unreadable. The only thing I could make out was the words 'part of it'. It didn't help me much.

I thought about visiting the café again, but then my mind recalled what he said to me after I left, and that unnerved me too. How was he so sure I wouldn't be able to visit the café again? I guess I'd just have to prove him wrong.

Quickly changing out of my baggy-relax outfit to some casual clothes, I grabbed my house keys and marched to the door.

But before I could even twist the handle to open it, the door bell rang, which surprised me. I rarely get visits. And if I did, it was mostly the post man or pizza delivery. Seeing as I didn't order any pizza and the post didn't work on Sundays, I wondered who it was.

Only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath I unlocked the door and opened it. A man in his early thirties stood in front of me, wearing a serious looking black suit. Beside him stood two men who looked pretty much like gorillas to me: Black business suit and sunglasses where you could see your own reflection in it. I wish I had a pair too, so I could watch people without them noticing it.

"Are you Jacqueline Michelle Rosalie Walker?" The elder man asked in a pure business tone.

I mentally cringed at my full name. Sometimes I wonder what my parents were thinking when they names me. 'Jacqueline' was something I could deal with since there was a lot of cool nicknames. 'Michelle' was also acceptable. But Rosalie? Really? It sounded like I was a flower or something like that.

"Uh yeah, maybe. Why?" I squeaked out, fearing that my worst nightmare just turned real. Somewhere deep inside me I knew who they were and why they were here. I just refused to accept it. Soldier boy probably spilled out everything and now they are here to kidnap me and lock me away for the rest of my life.

Fuck you, Steve Rogers. So much about not liking bullies and protecting the innocent.

"My name is Phil Coulson with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division."

I made a face at that long name.

"It is also known as SHIELD." Phil Coulson introduced himself.

Why didn't I realize that sooner? It was the same agent from _Iron Man _and _Thor_. Maybe it was because I wasn't a big fan of him.

"We need you to come with us."

I looked at him with big eyes as he said that. Gulping down the lump that has formed in my throat, I asked: "Why?"

"It seems like you have some classified information you're not supposed to know. And your life might be in danger."

"You mean I have some classified information and you can't have me walking around freely otherwise Loki might know about me and use the information against SHIELD?" I noted rather sarcastically, but then quickly clamped a hand over my mouth.

Did I just admit that I _do _have some classified information and knew Loki was the one who stole the Tesseract? Pretty sure that on a stupidity scale from zero to hundred I have reached the mark two hundred fifty. I hated it when my mouth was quicker than my brain.

Shock passed over Coulson's face, but he quickly concealed it and inquired in a professional tone: "And how do you know it was Loki? What do you know of him?"

"Probably a lot more than you guys. Well, if you have watched the movies and read the comics you'd know about him." Again my mouth was faster than my brain. I should start to learn when it's time for me to shut up. It did get me into trouble with teachers and class mates.

And now it got me into trouble again.

Coulson cleared his throat and suggested: "Perhaps you want to accompany us to the car."

"I… No thanks." I declined the offer and quickly bolted out of the door, away from those creeps.

Well, I _tried_ to get away, but lady luck wasn't on my side today (and never was). Those two men with the dark sunglasses quickly caught me by both my upper arms, making sure that I didn't escape.

"So… The car, huh?" I laughed nervously, but then winced in pain at the death grip.

Yep, I'm LARGE and in CHARGE.

oOoOoOo

"_The Chitauri grow restless."_

"_Let them grow restless. I will lead them in the glorious battle."_

"_Battle? Against the meager might of Earth?"_

"_Glorious, not lengthy. If your force is as formidable as you claim."_

"_You question us? Question him? He who put the scepter in your hand? Who gave you ancient knowledge and new purpose? When you were cast out, defeated!"_

"_I was a king! The rightful king of Asgard. Betrayed."_

"_Your ambition is little and full of childish need. We're beyond the Earth to greater worlds. The Tesseract will avail."_

"_You don't have the Tesseract yet… I don't threaten. But until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words."_

"_The Tesseract won't let itself be taken so easily. I am sure it has already done something… Out of the ordinary."_

"_I won't be stopped so easily. I shall become kin and you shall have the Tesseract."_

"_If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realms, no barren moon, no crevasse where I can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for that so sweet pain."_

oOoOoOo

The clock said three o'clock in the afternoon. It was quarter past two when we arrived here.

Damn, Coulson was taking his time.

And I was bored.

I could talk a little bit with those two agents, but an inner force told me they would just ignore me.

Lady Gaga was running in the background.

I was sitting in one of SHIELD's cars, legs stretched over the backseat and leaning against the door. We were parked in front of a tower. Not just any tower, it was _Stark's_ tower. The building was really tall. It looked in reality even better than in the movie trailer. The skyscraper stood proud and tall up in the sky, the name Stark shining all over the city. Another prove that Tony Stark was a rich bastard with an ego of the size of Asgard.

I guess this tower was just another confirmation that I was probably IN the movie _Avengers_.

Like I've mentioned before, the tower was a tall building. I've been living in New York City for good eight years now and I'm sure I would have noticed if they were building a new tower. But then many people would argue that I have the attention span of a goldfish. So it's actually not surprising at all if I didn't notice something like this until right after the construction was finished.

I remember that one time my friend came with a new hair color to school. I thought she was a new student, even though she told me like a million times she was going to dye her hair. The result was that I didn't even bother to take a closer look at her face and pretty much didn't talk to her for the rest of the day.

I'm a horrible friend.

Resting my hand on my tummy, I had the sudden longing to drink a chocolate milkshake. It was a good one I had yesterday… But I couldn't really shake off what the seller said. I did want to visit the café again, but now it's not possible anymore since I've been arrested.

Did he know this was going to happen?

… Nah, can't have. I think that guy was just messing with me.

The seats of the car were mostly made of leather. There was a small table like thing in the middle. A small rubix cube key chain dangled down from the ceiling. I never really liked rubix cubes. Couldn't even finished the 3x3 one.

Hm, seeing that cube I had made me think of the Tesseract again. Was that even normal?

I groaned and silently cursed Coulson under my breath, when suddenly the door behind me opened and I almost fell out. Luckily I managed to grab onto the passenger's seat.

"You could have WARNED me." I complained while I turned back around in my seat and fastened my seatbelt.

"I did," Coulson responded calmly while putting a champagne glass away "You weren't listening."

Talking about not paying attention…

Coulson took out a cell phone and started to talk to someone. Way to ignore me after I just waited a good hour for you. Thanks, asshole.

The name Stark was mentioned during his conversation, and he once glanced at me, meaning they were talking about me now.

I looked out of the window and wondered what my friends were doing right now. We drove out of New York City, downtown to the airport. Secretly I continued listening to Coulson's telephone conversation. Although I couldn't hear what the other person was saying, I could already guess _who_ he was talking to.

"I don't know about Stark… But the girl really does have some classified information… Bring her tp the Helicarrier? With _Captain America_? Are you sure, director? … Understood, sir."

Seems like I was going to meet American boy again. The third time in what, three days maybe? Hopefully he's happy to see me again… Well, I certainly am not. And Coulson also said something about the Helicarrier.

Realization just hit me when I repeated the word several times in my head.

_Holy shit_, I'm going to _the_ Helicarrier! I'd be the happiest person in the nine realms if it wasn't for the fact that I was probably there as a prisoner…

At least my summer vacation isn't going to be boring anymore.

oOoOoOo

"_Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe."_

"_Well, those I actively try to avoid."_

"_This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."_

"_What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?"_

"_Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken. It omits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be. Before the Tesseract was stolen some strange signals were detected in New York City. It was a gamma signature, the same as the one from the cube. Perhaps you could also find a connection between them."_

"_So Fury isn't after the monster at all."_

"_Not that he's told me."_

"_And he tells you everything."_

"_Talk to Fury, he needs you on this."_

"_He needs me in a cage?"_

"_No one's gonna put you in a…"_

"_STOP LYING TO ME! … I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha."_

"_Stand down. We're good here."_

"_Just let me pack some things."_

"_That won't be necessary. SHIELD has prepared everything you will need. According to Fury they also found a kid who may have some useful information about the Tesseract."_

"… _A _kid_?"_

"_I don't know the exact details, but perhaps she can be helpful with your search for the Tesseract."_

"_I doubt that a kid is going to help me much. How far is SHIELD willing to go just to get the Tesseract back?"_

oOo

"… _What are you doing here?"_

"_Can't you see? I got arrested, Cap."_

"… _I'm sorry…"_

"_Yeah well, at least they didn't put me behind bars. My name's Jackie Walker, by the way."_

"_Why did they arrest you?"_

"_Knowing classified stuff, illegally ripping off the ticket seller's head, possibly littering, you name it."_

"'_Illegally ripping off the ticket seller's head'?"_

"… _Long story, mate, long story."_


	4. Chapter 4

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN**

**Thanks to Laurafxox for beta reading it :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter IV

In Which Coulson Didn't Get His Trading Cards Signed

I'm not a big fan of plane flights.

I remembered those times where I had to travel a long distance with a place, taking one or two transfers at different airports just to get to my intended destination. And sometimes, when I wasn't fast enough or something got into my way, I missed my next flight and was doomed to wait for the next best flight. Or worse, I had to stay overnight at a nearby hotel.

Well, it wasn't a plane I was on right now, it was more an airship. A really, super high-tech airship, flying with an incredible speed on its way to the Helicarrier, where most likely horrible things were awaiting me: Questions. Tons of questions, demanding to be answered.

Slightly nervous I leaned my head back and clutched my tummy. I was sitting on one of the seats, next to me was Steve Rogers. He was holding something that looked like an iPad in his hand, carefully scrolling down the screen.

It looked funny how Steve Rogers, a man from the Second World War was using new modern technology. Just from how he takes a long time to find the correct button to get back to the main screen told me he still needed time to get used to the pad.

Trying to distract myself from the churning feeling in my stomach, I glanced at the pad screen. The name Clint Barton was written at the top, next to it was a passport photo of a really serious looking Hawkeye.

"Isn't Loki mind controlling him?" I asked out loud, but rather to myself. Just as those words left my mouth, I realized my mistake. I wasn't supposed to say that out loud for my own safety.

Steve let out a low hum and responded absent minded: "I guess. It's what the file says at least."

Pause.

I waited for him to ask how I knew that, but since the question never came, I'll assume Rogers thought I also read the file or something like that.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Coulson joining us. Ignoring me, he quickly skipped over to Steve and looked at him in awe.

Someone's got a fan here.

Both of them started to talk about Bruce Banner.

Wait, if I was on my way to the Helicarrier now, does this mean I'll get to meet him too? I wonder how long it will take me to make Bruce Banner hulk out. But I certainly hope there will be someone to stop him in case I really want an early death.

Closing my eyes, I continued listening to the conversation the two men were having.

Hm, shouldn't Coulson go into fangirl mode soon?

"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially. I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Coulson stammered out nervously, his eyes sparkling like he just gotten an early birthday present.

Smooth, Edward Cullen, real smooth.

Steve looked amused. A bit taken back and uncomfortable, but still amused.

I would have been amused too, if I weren't here as a prisoner. Well, I'm not completely sure if I was really here as a prisoner, but I doubt they will let me go that easily. The roller coaster feeling in my stomach was just getting worse and worse. I clutched my tummy a bit tighter.

"You know, it's really, it's just a… Just a huge honor to have you on board."

Deciding that I'd heard enough of his fangirl gushing I went back to my own little world and ignored everything around me.

I felt like an outsider. Although I knew what happened and what is going to happen, I feel like a real outsider. Perhaps it was because until recently, they weren't real. To me, they were just fictional characters created by genius people. Fictional characters to talk about, to have a crush on or to hate. And sometimes people would imagine how it would be if they were real. But never in my life would I imagine that this would really happen.

They were real, standing in front of me, flesh and bone, talking, behaving and acting like a real person. And I'm just sitting there, not really knowing what to do, fearing for my life. And I was scared that I also might say things they weren't supposed to know. It already happened twice. Maybe I should consider walking around with duct tape over my mouth.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve responded with an uneasy smile. Probably not used to meeting a real fanboy. Now he started to babble about something to do with the Captain America uniform. At that I returned my attention to their conversation. I didn't know Coulson was into fashion, being able to modify the uniform.

I, for my part, was never really interested in fashion. Oversized t-shirts and hoodies, a tank top, skinny jeans and chucks, that was enough for me. Comfortable and casual. Maybe a dress or two on special occasions, but I hardly ever went to any parties.

Steve seemed to have noticed my silence, because when he said something, it was directed to me, I think. "Miss, are you feeling alright?"

"Huh?" I replied dumbly, not really expecting Steve to be talking to me "Uh yeah, I'm okay. Just a bit… Nervous."

Understatement of the century. I was nervous a fuck! I was on my way to the Helicarrier, meeting Fury and some other important people and going to have the hardest time of my life. Not really easy for me to stay calm.

"Don't worry; I don't think they are going to be very… Mean to you." Steve tried to make me feel better. Let me tell you, he was doing a horrible job in it. It just made me feel worse, but of course I kept that to myself. You have to give some credit for being concerned.

"Miss Walker." Coulson butted in rather rudely. Either he was jealous that his biggest idol was chatting with me or he simply wanted to be a jerk, like I always thought he was. "Under normal circumstances we would take you to an interrogation room in our headquarters, but since we are facing a bigger threat than usual, I think we might start with some questions now."

Facing a bigger threat than usual? I really didn't like the sound of it. I stared at the agent dumbly, feeling Steve's questioning look on me, and then shrugged my shoulders.

Coulson took it as a sign to start "What can you tell us about Loki."

I gaped, but then closed my mouth again. Now that's just mean! Immediately dropping the bomb, without giving me any time to prepare myself! Especially since I was still trying to figure out what I even thought about Loki! Personally in _Thor_ I didn't like him all too much, but since reading few Tumblr posts regarding the God of Mischief, my view on him has changed a lot. He still had greasy hair though.

"He is… "I commenced slowly, stretching out the sentence, not knowing what I should tell them about Loki. Hm, was there even anything good to say? Beside any possible spoilers? I took a deep breath and started all over again. "He is adopted."

Silence.

Judging by Coulson's face I guess it wasn't what he expected or what he wanted to hear. The agent repeated what I just said: "Adopted? Loki is adopted? That's not quite what I… had in mind."

What did he have in mind? "Ever read about the Norse Myths?" I asked "I think most of the things are explained in it." I paused and waited for any comment or reaction out of them, but when nothing came I continued, smirking slightly to myself "Well, if _I_ knew what I was dealing with was a supposed God from mythology, the first thing I'd do is google him and get to know him via stories and myths."

Coulson coughed awkwardly and loosened his tie a bit, and then looked into the folder he was holding, eyes quickly skimming over something.

Oh man oh man, what was my _father_ thinking right now? He was never home due to work and stuff, but did he even know I got arrested? I decided that I would worry about that problem later, seeing as I don't really have a close relationship to the man anyway.

The airship slowed down a bit until it fully landed on something. Most likely the Helicarrier. I undid my seatbelt and quickly got out. Jumping down onto the Helicarrier ground, I stretched my body fully, enjoying the wind blowing into my face.

Lots of other jets and vehicles stood on the platform of the Helicarrier, taking off and landing or just being tested. People were working there. I made a full 360 degree turn. The sea reached out as far as the eye could see and not a single island could be seen. Then I spotted another man (who was not dressed as a SHIELD personal) standing not far away, slightly confused but in awe at the same time. My mind instantly shouted Bruce Banner. Oh well, time to have a chat with the Hulk.

Before I could even take a step forward, someone put both hands on my shoulders to prevent me from walking away, and then turned me around. It was Coulson. And he looked serious, but also a bit embarrassed. I waited for him to say something.

"Look, normally I wouldn't entrust any random civilian with this task, especially not a teenager," He started while I only raised an eyebrow "but I want you to do me a small favor."

"Uh, depends on what kind of favor…" I replied uneasily.

He took my hand and put something on it. Curiously I took a closer look at it. Cards. Some very old cards. With Captain America on them. I have a feeling I know where this is going…

"I've had them since I was a child." Coulson began to tell me. "I admit it's a bit embarrassing, but could you please ask Captain America to sign them for me?"

I blinked. Was he serious? Couldn't he do that himself? Judging from his fanboy mode earlier, I thought Coulson would be capable of doing that by himself. Like it's not going to be awkward for me to ask for an autograph. I didn't even have the gut to ask for extra ketchup at McDonald's!

I shook my head and shoved the cards back into his hand. Coulson looked a bit disappointed, but didn't say anything further and put the cards away.

I turned around again and saw Steve Rogers talking to the Black Widow. My ears caught some bits of what they were talking about. Something about Captain America, trading cards and vintage.

Coulson turned red from what Natasha Romanoff said. But she waved at him, to which he simply walked away. I knew the small wave was intended for me when she walked toward me. I chose to avoid eye contact and pretended not to have noticed her, looking away.

Hey, was that Bruce Banner Steve was talking to now? Aw man, I'm jealous. He got to talk to a living time bomb while I was most likely to be bombed with questions by a top assassin.

The Black Widow stopped in front of me and held out a hand. I shook it more or less willingly. I just don't want to appear impolite.

"I'm Natasha Romanoff" She introduced herself.

"Jackie Walker. But you probably know that already." I added grimacing.

She didn't agree to it but neither did she deny it. But I bet Fury gave her a mission. Something like 'befriend that teenager and find out as much information as possible and then we'll see what happens'.

"Follow me please, Jackie." She said and then walked away.

It wasn't a request, it was an order. I was thinking about not following her. The two guns strapped on her thighs told me otherwise. I have no doubt she would point them against my head if I didn't obey.

"Gentlemen," Natasha said to Steve and Bruce "You may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath."

Suddenly the Helicarrier started to shake. I stumbled a bit and almost fell into Steve. Every fan girl's dream? Thankfully God decided to give me a break, and instead Bruce caught me by my upper arm. I flashed him a thankful smile which he returned. How come everybody else was keeping their balance and I was the only one who almost fell over? I really should start to work more on my balance. That's what I get for skipping PE class.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked while looking around.

"Really?" Bruce commented "They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

Nice synonym for submarine.

Both of them carefully moved closer to the edge of the Helicarrier, and saw how it slowly started to fly. I stayed where I was, fearful I might lose my balance again and fall down into the sea. Or into the machine part. Not something I wanted to happen on my first stay on the Helicarrier.

"Oh, no. This is much worse." Bruce muttered under his breath. He and Steve walked back to us. It was getting chilly and windy; my hair kept blowing into my face. There was times like this I wished I had short hair.

The Helicarrier rised up higher and higher and true enough, it was getting harder to breath, so we quickly walked inside. Natasha led us through the endless halls. I already knew that I was going to have a hard time memorizing the way. Maybe if I was lucky, they'd have maps around here.

We ended up in the main control room. People were sitting in front of monitors, talking and working and doing whatever a secret organization does.

"Gentlemen." A voice full of authority suddenly echoed next to me. I turned my head around and saw Jedi Master Mace Windu standing beside me with his lightsaber, ready to fight against the dark force.

I wish it was Mace Windu, but sadly it was only Nick Fury standing beside me. How I didn't notice him appearing was beyond me. He looked even more intimating in real life, especially with that eye patch.

Steve passed by Fury and gave him ten dollars. I silently wondered to myself why he owes him money, but then decided that it was none of my business. Maybe it was just one of those typical grandfather things.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury said to Banner.

"Thanks for asking nicely." Bruce replied rather sarcastically. Ten bucks says SHIELD forced him to come here. "So, uh… How long am I staying?"

That, my friend, was actually something I'd also like to know. No matter how cool the Helicarrier looked and how bad I wanted to play hide-and-seek in it, I was starting to get a tiny little bit homesick. Fury proceeded to explain how they were planning to track down Loki. They were going to use laptops; cell phone cameras et cetera to track down the 'right' person.

Basically, all the electronic devices were secretly spies that were watching you and hearing everything you said. Adieu to privacy.

It was now Bruce's turn to explain exactly what he needed. Natasha then said he should follow her, that she would show him the lab. Both of them walked off. Coulson tagged along, leaving me along with Fury, much to my dismay.

I was thinking about following them, excited to see how a real professional lab looked like, when suddenly a hand on my shoulder stopped me from walking any further.

"Young lady," Fury said, I gulped "We are going to have a small chat."

Fuck my life.

oOoOoOo

"_The Tesseract is showing me so much. It's … It's more than knowledge, it's the truth."_

"_I know. What did it show you, Agent Barton?"_

"_My next target."_

"_Tell me what you need."_

"_I need a distraction and an eyeball."_

"_Good. Go on and prepare everything."_

"_It also showed me a girl, currently in SHIELD's captivity."_

"… _A girl? The Tesseract showed you a girl?"_

"_Yes, sir."_

"… _See what you can find out about this girl and why SHIELD is holding her in captivity."_

oOo

"_Do you know why you are here, Walker?"_

"_I have few… Hypotheses."_

"_I do hope that you know we won't let you go that easily, unless you can provide us a logical and reasonable explanation."_

"_And the Tesseract is also a reasonable and logical energy source, yeah?"_

"_Sarcasm won't get you anywhere."_

"…"

"_So you, a sixteen years old student, are really trying to tell me that SHIELD, Captain America, myself and all the other guys are just fiction and aren't supposed to exist?"_

"_In some way, yeah."_

"_To you, we are just characters from movies and comics you have watched and read?"_

"_Pretty much."_

"_And you know absolutely everything about us?"_

"… _Uh no, I recently got roped in into the fandom."_

"… _You know what I'm thinking right now?"_

"_That I belong to the loony bin?"_

"_That too."_

"_You're such a dick, Fury."_

oOoOoOo

I just had the most exciting tour of my life. On the one hand it was exciting because Fury was oh-so-nice and showed me around the Helicarrier. On the other hand it wasn't because there were indeed tons of questions.

Questions I was hoping to avoid, but somehow couldn't. An invisible force told me that it was better if I just answered the questions truthfully. And I did. The result was that Fury kept throwing the I-don't-believe-a-single-thing-you're-saying-look at me.

We then returned to the main control room. The first thing I noticed was Coulson talking to Steve. Coulson of course was nervous, while Steve looked like he was trying not to run away. At least that's what it looked like to me. I, for my part, would gladly run away from here and hide away for the rest of my life.

Spying over I saw Coulson holding his beloved and valuable vintage card set in his hands. I guess he finally asked Cap to sign them for him.

I sat down on a nearby chair and waited for something to happen, Hm, I wonder what Loki was doing at this moment. Magically an agent working at the screen answered my question. He didn't say a name but I just knew he meant Loki.

"We got a hit. Sixty percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson inquired and looked at the screen along with Fury.

The agent named the exact location. At the word Stuttgart I perked up from seat and stared at the three men with huge eyes.

"Stuttgart?" I interrupted loudly in an excited tone "I _love_ Stuttgart!" My sudden loud confession got me strange looks from almost everyone in the room.

Talking about being the center of an attention. Pressing my lips into a thin line I blushed slightly and sank back into the cushion seat. Well, that was embarrassing.

Fury then ordered Steve to get ready for some action. Nodding dutifully, Steve left the room. I watched after him with envy in my eyes. Lucky bastard gets to go to Germany while I'm stuck on the Helicarrier. Not fair at all.

Sensing my sour mood, the director of SHIELD then said something I wouldn't imagine him saying: "Go after him."

At that I shot up from my chair, looking at him with wide eyes. "You're shitting me."

"No, I'm serious. Go and followed Agent Romanoff before I change my mind."

He didn't need to tell me twice. In no time I followed Natasha who was just about to leave the room and followed her to the jet. I'm sure Steve wouldn't appreciate that I was coming along, but who cares? I'm off to Stuttgart, and I'll see Loki plus Iron Man and Thor later.

Wow, I cannot believe I'm really going to meet them.

It's either going to be one of the best moments of my life or I'm going to regret later ever talking to them.

"Excited, aren't we?" Natasha commented, mostly noticing how I was practically glowing with happiness. At that I only nodded happily with a big smile plastered over my face. That smile didn't last long though. "Did director Fury tell you why you could tag along?"

I stopped walking for a few seconds. She did have a point here. How could I even believe for seconds they would just let me tag along freely like this was a school trip?

What was the catch in this whole deal?

oOoOoOo

"_Why would you let her go to Stuttgart? Isn't that dangerous, especially since they are going to get Loki. And she could try to run away."_

"_Oh, I don't think she will try to run away. She knows what will happen. And I have the feeling she may have connections to the gamma signature from New York City a few days ago."_

"_But sending her to retrieve the enemy… I really hope you know what you are doing, director Fury."_

"_I always know what I'm doing, Agent Coulson."_


	5. Chapter 5

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN**

**A bunch of thanks to my beta Lauraxfox :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter V

In Which Loki Tries to Get a Bunch of People to Kneel

Turn right, go straight, and then left… Ah no, the other way around… Left, straight and then right… Or was it straight, right and then left? Either way, I was lost.

Lost in the middle of the streets in Stuttgart. Which was a bit embarrassing since Stuttgart wasn't that big. And here I thought my sense of direction had improved over the years.

I'm most likely the most directionally challenged person on Earth. I remember that one time, on a school trip, there was a task we had to do alone and somehow I managed to get lost in the first five minutes. I was walking around, trying to find the others and then the teacher spotted me from far away. They were yelling my name to get my attention but I didn't know where the sound came from and I kept walking around, hearing voices calling my name.

It was a horrible experience.

I clutched the letter from Fury (which was given to me by no one else than Natasha) in my hand, standing on the sidewalk, waiting for the traffic lights to go green. After reading the letter, they dropped me somewhere not too far, like Fury told them to do so in the letter. From there, I should be able to find the Stuttgart opera house, where Loki was, most likely, causing some havoc. What I'd really like to know was why I had to be dropped off and _then_ find my own way there? Was SHIELD trying to get rid of me? I certainly hope so…

Well, I could use this opportunity to escape. Though I doubted I'd get very far anyway. And I'd rather not be put behind bars for the rest of my life.

I crossed the street and decided to ask someone for directions. If this was anything like that school trip I'd never reach my intended destination. Passing by a Starbucks café I suddenly longed for a warm tea. The green color of the café's logo reminded me of Café Mischief. Now that I thought back to it, I wonder what that book was I looked into. There was a drawing of a cube. A blue cube. The Tesseract? Was there a connection somehow?

Shaking those thoughts away, I told myself I'd been watching too much _Doctor Who_ lately. In the distance, I spotted someone and jogged toward them, intending to ask for some directions. It was an elderly woman, who acted utterly surprised when I asked her where the opera house was. Maybe it was because the youth these days weren't interested in that kind of stuff anymore?

Thanking her for helping me, I followed her instructions and, not even twenty meters walking distance, there was the Stuttgart opera house. Nearer than I thought. Hm, didn't I pass that building few minutes ago?

Arriving there, I suddenly remembered that there was no way they were going to let me in because I didn't have an invitation and I wasn't even dressed formerly. If I remembered correctly, shouldn't Loki be stabbing someone's eye out?

Ew. I think I'll just wait outside for something to happen. Or maybe I should just walk away, and wait until Natasha and the others arrive with the jet. It suddenly occurred me that I was in a rather dangerous situation.

Yeah, I really should leave this place. Turning around on my heels, I prepared to leave this place as fast as I could.

I didn't get very far though. Soon the terrified scream of people could be heard. Women and men, all dressed nicely, were running out of the building. In their sheer panic they didn't pay too much attention to me, standing in the middle of the opera place; confused and lonely; not sure what to do. Not far away I spotted a rather nice looking statue of a half naked man. Perhaps I should hide there until the crowd disappeared.

Pretending to be in an action movie, I pressed my body against the statue, like I could become one with it. At a snail's pace, I slowly inched toward the edge and carefully glanced over it.

Loki walked out of the building confidently, changing his attire from a formal suit to golden armor and that perverted looking helmet.

Makes me wish I could do that to.

Musing about whether I should come out of my hiding and join the crowd, or just stay here and wait until Steve and the others came to save the night, I listened how he ordered the crowd to kneel before him.

Of course he was ignored. I mean, if you were running around dead scared, would you listen to some possible cosplayer telling you to kneel down? No.

Loki of course didn't like that a bit.

"I said, KNEEL!"

Cringing slightly at the harshness in his voice I stayed silent in my hiding place and didn't move an inch. Everybody else stopped running and kneeled down. Some people were staring at me, probably wishing they could be in my hiding place right now. I really hope those people aren't going to point at me and rat me out.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki began with his speech. This line was something I always saw on the Internet. Apparently it was a quite famous speech of his.

I listened in awe. Not because what he was saying was oh-so-beautiful, it was because I could listen to his voice all day and never get tired of it.

"It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

Wow. I just want the give the screenplay writer a bug hug and invite them to a pizza dinner. Loki's voice was smooth and powerful at the same time. It simply had something that automatically made you know he was no ordinary man.

The God then let clones of himself appear around the crowd, scaring the people. One clone even appeared right next to me. My heart beat sped up. Luckily the clone just disappeared again. I leaned against the statue and slid down to the ground, clutching my hoodie and sighing in relief. Despite the fact that the air was chilly, I thought that wearing a hoodie was a bad idea. I was starting to feel warm in it, like I had just run ten laps around the whole building without even taking a break.

Must be the adrenaline rush.

I closed my eyes tightly and used my hand to fan my face. Suddenly someone grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me out of my hiding place.

I let out a high pitched squeak in shock and surprise. It was a Loki clone. Desperately I tried to pull away, but the clone brought me effortlessly to the center of the crowd. The whole time keeping a death grip on my wrist.

All eyes were set on me now. The real Loki marched toward me in just a few steps, scepter in his hand. In a somewhat amused tone, he mocked: "Didn't I tell you to kneel? How dare you disobey me, your king?"

My lips felt dry, and suddenly I didn't know what to say. When I read tons of fanfictions about this particularly scene, I always thought about what I would say if it were happening to me. My personal favorite scenario was me screaming 'Freedom is the right of all sentient beings' at his face. But right now it didn't look like a good idea to do that.

Let me tell you that the scepter looked really nice and glowy and stuff like that, and you can bet your sweet ass that the glowing stick of destiny was capable of killing people. And I have absolutely no desire to be one of the selected to experience it.

"Well," Loki started, interrupting my train of thoughts "I am still waiting."

Waiting for what? The pizza delivery? Or me kneeling down? Because you know, your stupid clone is holding me, and it's kinda hard to kneel down when someone is making sure you are not going to run away anytime.

The people were staring at me. Some worriedly, some exceptionally and some were begging me to do as Loki said. I pressed my lips into a thin line and shook my head furiously.

Promptly Loki dropped that amused smirk, anger now evident on his face. Spreading his arms widely, he announced to the crowd like it was a big spectacle: "Look at this girl, people. Let her be an example."

Well, fuck.

He hold up his magic stick AKA the spear and pointed it at me. It began to glow and then it sent out an energy ball. Right toward me.

Panic began to rise up and I struggled hard, trying to free myself form Loki's clone's death grip. It only tightened its grip more, to the point it could break my wrist, but right now I could care less. I'd rather return with a broken wrist than as ashes in a pot. Tears started to fall down from my eyes.

Why was no one trying to save me? Was this was how I'm going to die?

The nearer the blast came the brighter the light got. I stopped my struggling and held up my free arm to shield my eyes from the blinding lights. Waiting for it to kill me.

The blast never came though.

I carefully opened an eye. It was nighttime. Slightly disoriented and confused, I looked around and checked my surroundings, realizing I was still there where I stood before, just that the Loki clone was gone. Everybody stared at me with wide eyes. Even Loki looked a tad bit surprised.

I was still alive. I honestly have no idea how, but I was still alive! More tears streamed down my face, but this time it was more from relief and happiness. Using my sleeve I whipped the tears away and glared at the God in front of me. He was just as surprised and confused as I was, but this didn't last for too long. Soon his face morphed into anger.

Definitely not a good sign for me.

Holding up the spear again, Loki fired another blast. This time I tried to pay attention to see what happened but, out of reflex, I had both of my arms up in a defensive manner. Again the blast flew toward me, but it exploded few centimeters away from me, leaving me completely unharmed.

The God of Mischief blasted another energy ball, and then another. The same thing happened over and over, until he just couldn't take it anymore. In large steps he strode toward me. The people took the opportunity to run away.

Thanks for leaving me behind with this guy, people. Shows just how much faith I had in humanity.

Loki grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie and easily lifted me off the ground. I started to flounce around and grabbed his hand, trying to pry it away with no success.

"What have you done?" He hissed angrily, his face showing fury and madness.

"Let me go, Loki!" I snarled back instead.

For a millisecond his eyes widened in surprise. The next thing I knew he had me against the statue. One hand was around my throat, threatening to cut off my airway.

"I am a God, and you will treat me with respect, mortal!"

"I don't believe in Gods." I choked out with lots of effort.

This only made him tighten his grip around my throat, to the point where I couldn't get enough oxygen anymore. Suddenly a giant shield came flying toward our direction. Loki quickly spun around and blocked the shield with his staff, letting me go in the process.

I fell down on the ground and gasped for air. My hand reached out for my throat, the feeling of his hand around it was still there. I hope it wasn't going to leave any nasty marks.

The shield flew back to its owner. Steve Rogers was standing not far away, the parachute beside him on the ground. He stood there tall and proudly in his newly designed uniform, the nice navy blue color standing out in the night light.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve commented and then his eyes landed on me, surprise written all over his face. Or eyes, in this case, since you couldn't see his face due the mask.

He hadn't liked the idea that I was coming along, so he was pretty much relieved to hear that I got dropped off somewhere else. Now imagine his surprise and disappointment to find me here in the clutch of the enemy.

"The soldier. A man out of time." Loki remarked, smirking slightly. Looks like he did some research.

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

Is it me or am I really being ignored now after barely escaping death?

It was getting windy, and the unmistakable loud noise of a big machine could be heard. My hair whirled around, making it hard for me to see anything in front of me. Squeezing my eyes together, I looked up and saw SHIELD's airship. Natasha ordered Loki to drop down his weapon.

I always thought it was a stupid thing to say. I mean obviously when they were holding a weapon they were doing it to protect themselves, so why would they even listen to such a stupid order?

Suddenly Loki attacked Steve and sent out an energy ball from his scepter at him. Steve managed to block it with his shield, but he still got thrown back a little.

"Kneel!" Loki yelled, in full battle mode now, charging at Steve again.

"Not today!" Steve responded. He ran toward Loki, did a back flip or something like that and knocked Loki out with his leg.

Steve one, Loki zero.

I watched how the battle went on. Of course it would have been better if I was actually sitting in the cinema and eating popcorn, but sadly that's not possible anymore. Although I wouldn't minded some popcorn right now.

Loki got himself ready to charge at Steve again, when suddenly out of nowhere a blast came and knocked the God of Mischief away. Captain America looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

Not that he thought it was my doing, I held up my hands anyway and stated: "It wasn't me!"

From far away a familiar red-golden metal suit flew toward us, and landed graciously on the concrete ground. Tony Stark AKA Iron Man held up his right arm and pointed at Loki: "Make your move, Reindeer Games."

I furrowed my eyebrows at the last part of what he said. Reindeer games? Why would Iron Man call Loki… Alright, his helmet. Explains a lot. I would be super embarrassed to wear something like that in public. But then again perhaps in Asgard this was considered as a symbol of power or something like that. Might as well ask Thor about it. If I ever get the chance to meet him.

Putting his spear onto the ground, Loki slowly put up his arms in surrender.

"Good move." Tony praised and then turned to Steve, completely ignoring me.

Instead of greeting him Steve walked toward me, helping me up and checking if I was okay. My reply was: "Beside almost being blasted and choked to death, I'm fine. How are you?"

Well, not sure if Steve had caught up with sarcasm yet, but judging by how he let out a relieved sigh I guess he understood what I meant.

Captain America then turned around and greeted Iron Man. "Mr. Stark."

"Captain." Stark responded in the same tone Steve used.

"Jackie." I added sarcastically. Finally Stark took notice of me. This itself should be considered as an achievement in life, being noticed by multibillionaire Tony Stark who had an ego of the size of Asgard.

"That your sister?" He asked and pointed at me "She does not happen to be older than me, does she?"

American Boy and I glanced at each other, and then shook our head in notion. I guess we were both thinking the seam thing about Stark: What a huge pain in the ass.

The airship lowered down to the ground level. Iron Man and Captain America held Loki by his arms and lead him in, making sure the God wasn't pulling off any tricks.

Well, it's gonna be a long flight back to the Helicarrier.

oOo

There are lot things in life that makes sense and there a lot of things that didn't make sense at all. For example, it makes sense why some things happen in life, but they were just too dreadful to believe. Let's take the EM 2012 as an example: Half final match Germany vs. Italy. It makes perfect sense (to me at least) why Germany lost 2:1 against Italy. From what I know was that Germany has never even once won a soccer match against Italy, so why should it be different this time? Not the most logical explanation, but it was just foreseeable Germany would lose.

It also makes total sense why I wasn't exactly going into fan girl mode during my current situation. Everything that was happening around me was real, the people are real. They had feelings. It's not Robert Downey Jr. standing few steps away from me, it was _Tony Stark_. Possibly a descendant of Captain Jack Sparrow and Kuzko.

Now, why the fuck was Loki staring at me?

Oh believe me, it's not the wide eyed, amazed- about-my-beauty-stare. It's more one of those I-know-what-you-did-last-summer-stare. Just as creepy.

Well okay, truth to be told, I wasn't really sure whether he was really staring at me or not. I couldn't really tell because I was seated one seat away from him, but there was just this burning feeling of his eyes set on me. I didn't dare to look at him, being the coward I was, so instead I fixed my eyes on Captain America and Iron Man.

Kodak moment, the beginning of the superfamily. Now, where the hell was Peter Parker?

"I don't like it." Steve whispered to Tony.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily? Tony answered relaxed, not caring if he's supposed to keep his voice down.

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

At that statement I couldn't help but take a quick glance at my left. Loki was smirking slightly, which went unnoticed by Tony and Steve, but not by me. I, of course, knew why the God of Mischief was here. Should I tell them that he's going to be kidnapped by his bro soon? Surely they can change some things, but wouldn't that just mess up the whole movie plot? Didn't Caius Ballad from _Final Fantasy XIII-2_ said once that if you change the future you also change the past? Again there was an invisible force telling me not to say anything. And strangely I complied.

"Hm." A voice suddenly said in front of me. I looked up and met face to face with a glowing blue thing that belonged to a metal suit. "You don't look like someone SHIELD would hire."

"No shit, Sherlock." I responded and rolled my eyes, laughing silently at the double meaning.

"Kids these days, they have no respect for their elders."

Too tired to go into an argument with Tony Stark, I simply shrugged my shoulders and crossed my arms, staring at him exceptionally.

"Jackie is your name? Short for Jacqueline, right?" Stark asked and I nodded "Jackie Walker. Has got a nice ring to it."

Yeah, it's the same name as that one Pokemon Ranger from the ninth movie.

Tony took out a small device that resembled an iPhone and began to type something in it. He swept his finger across the screen a few times, sometimes looking back and forth between me and the screen. Obviously he was searching for as much information about me as possible.

It makes me wonder just how much information about one person's life was recorded in the world data base, always accessible if you were super science genius. Really, where was the privacy?

"Does your father know you are here?" Tony inquired casually.

For a nano second my heart skipped out of the beat, but then I hardened my face and replies almost coldly: "Don't know, don't care."

That got me some surprised look from Steve. Tony only raised his eyebrow at it, nodding in understanding and packed the device away. "Daddy issues? Had them once too."

At that I automatically had to think of Howard Stark and that made me turn my head around to look at Steve, who in turn stared at the boring wall of the airship, lost in deep thoughts.

I sighed and slid down from the seat slightly, hands in my pockets and legs stretched out. Outside the rain heavily pelted against the airship and at this point I had to praise the Black Widow for not only being a kickass assassin and a beautiful woman, but also for being a wonderful pilot. I bet she could even fly this bird blindfolded.

Carefully I glanced over to Loki, who in return was already staring at me. Unable to look away, I stared back into his green eyes, not daring to blink once. Slowly his face morphed into a smirk, to which I only furrowed my brows and then looked away. Either he knew something I didn't know, or he was just messing with me. And I didn't like it a bit. His magic wand was locked away somewhere safe, most likely going to be taken to the lab later.

A lightning strike appeared, quickly followed by loud thunder. Suddenly I remembered those awful three days of storm in New York City, and how afterwards my life changed forever.

Another flash of lightning, then the airship started to shake violently. I quickly grabbed onto the seat.

Natasha turned around and asked where it was coming from, but no one could provide her an answer. Well, I guess only Loki and I knew the reason, we simply decided to keep it to ourselves.

Hm, did the storm in New York City had to do something with Thor? Maybe I should ask him about it later. Or perhaps it was even Loki's fault? Was he responsible for bringing me here? I wouldn't doubt that the trickster used some weird hocus pocus. The only question would be why he did that.

I glanced over at said person and saw that he was gripping the seat, looking slightly worried.

"What's the matter?" Steve taunted "Scared of a little lightning?"

Not cool, Steve, not cool at all.

Having seen this particular scene countless times on Tumblr, I opened my mouth and stole Loki's line. "I'm not overly fond of what follows."

A silence followed, in which Tony, Steve and Loki gave me weird stares. Before I could explain further what I meant with it, there was suddenly a loud DONG noise coming from outside, signalizing that our favorite Australian God of Thunder had just arrived. Due to the impact of his landing the airship shook violently once again, almost making Steve and Tony lose their balance. Lucky for me I was seated there comfortably.

In no time the door got smashed open. Wind and rain came inside. Since I was seated next to the door, I pretty much got soaked.

Both Steve and Tony got into a fighting stance, but Thor was quicker and threw his hammer, Mjiolnir, at Tony. Iron Man flew back, Mjiolnir returned to Thor, who stalked over to Loki and grabbed him by his collar, taking him away.

And then everything happened so fast: My seatbelt loosened, I was grabbed by my upper arm, and the also dragged out of the smashed door. I didn't need anyone to tell me that it was Loki who did that.

My scream got covered by the sound of the wind howling and rain splashing. It felt like I was falling forever.

Closing my eyes, I waited to land hard on the ground and die instantly. A whooshing sound came from faraway, and before I knew what happened, I landed into a pair of open arms. I opened my eyes and saw Iron Man's face. Well, the mask of the armor.

"You okay?" He asked and put me down on solid ground.

Instantly I slipped down onto the muddy ground. My heart was beating so fast I was sure it would spring out of my chest any minute.

I meekly shook my head, running both hands through my hair, trying to push it off my face. I looked around to see where we were. It was dark; I could barely make out the outlines of the trees.

"Well, I have some things to take care of." Stark said and pointed at the somewhere down the hill, where I guess Thor and Loki were.

oOoOoOo

"_Where's the Tesseract?"_

"_I missed you too."_

"_Do I look to be in gaming mood?"_

"_Oh, you should thank me. With the Bifrost gone, how much dark energy did the All-Father have to muster to conjure you here? Your precious Earth."_

"_I thought you dead."_

"_Did you mourn?"_

"_We all did. Our father…"_

"_Your father. He did tell you my true parentage, did he not?"_

"_We were raised together. We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?"_

"_I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss. I who was and should be king!"_

"_So you take the world I love as recompense for you imagined slights? No, the Earth is under my protections, Loki."_

"_And you're doing a marvelous job with that. The humans slaughter each other in droves, while you ideally threat. I mean to rule them. That's why should I not…"_

"_You think yourself above them."_

"_Well, yes."_

"_Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother. A throne would suit you ill."_

"_I've seen worlds you've never known about. I have grown, Odin's son, in my exile. I have seen the true power of the Tesseract. And when I wield it…"_

"_Who showed you this power? Who controls the would be king?"_

"_I am a king!"_

"_Not here! You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream? You come hone."_

"_I don't have it… You need the cube to bring me home, but I've sent it off. I know not where."_

"_You listen well, brother!"_

"_I'm listening…"_

**P.S.: the prologue of the newest story is up!**


	6. Chapter 6

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN**

**thanks to Lauraxfox!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter VI

In Which I Got a SHIELD Hoodie

_"Do not touch me again."_

_"Then don't take my stuff."_

_"You have no idea what you're dealing with."_

_"Uh… Shakespeare in the park. Doth mother know, you weareth her drapes?"_

_"This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice."_

_"He gives up the cube and he's all yours. Until then stay out of the way. Tourist!"_

oOoOoOo

I'm alone

With a tree.

It was the only tree standing on this hill, sloppily and weakly, threatening to break apart any second. It didn't have any leavess on it, meaning it had to be very, very, very old. A miracle it had survived the storm caused by Thor.

It was alone on this hill, but still trying to break down.

A man in a tight blue suit landed next to me, holding a big shield, the parachute falling to the ground.

Steve Rogers.

Quickly he jogged toward me and kneelt down. Hand gripping on my shoulder he asked: "Are you okay? Where is Stark?"

Too many question, and I still haven't recovered to answer them with words. So instead I pointed wordlessly at the small forest down the hill. Sparks and battle cries were coming out of there.

"And where is Loki?"

Again I pointed wordlessly at the location the God of Mischief was.

Steve nodded and then ordered me to stay there where I was, he would come back later. And with that Captain America disappeared into the dark night. Leaving me alone again.

It actually took me another few minutes to realize that I was still sitting on the dirty muddy ground. Taking a deep, shaky breath I carefully tried to stand up. My legs were still a bit wobbly, but I managed to grab hold onto the sloppy tree. I really hope it's not going to break.

I wanted to see what Loki was doing right now. He could be trying to escape, and that wouldn't be good at all. Slowly I inched closer to the edge of the hill, careful so he wouldn't know I was watching him. But due to the rain from before, the ground was still wet. I managed to take four steps forwards before actually slipping off and sliding down the hill.

"OH FUCK!" I yelled, desperately trying to grab onto something to stop the slipping, but didn't get a hold of anything.

Hearing my yelling the God of Mischief turned around and looked up to see the source of the noise. I certainly hope Jesus was chill enough to let me land on the ground, and not on top of Loki.

The slipping ended with my palms being scratched and bleeding. Sitting there pathetically on my now-hurting butt, clothes all dirty, I winced slightly at the pain and the sight of blood on my hands. They were stinging really badly.

"In the end, you will always kneel." Loki quotes, referring to my current position. A smirk could be heard in his voice.

Bitch please; I wasn't exactly kneeling down in front of you.

Angry at myself for somehow getting into this position, I quickly stood up, ignoring the pain in my hands and glared at him.

Well, I _tried_ to glare at him, but it was kind of hard to do that when the guy standing before you was like two meters tall. And could possible kill you anytime. A stretching silence followed afterwards and I was getting more and more uncomfortable. It seemed like Loki noticed it, because his smirk only grew more, obviously enjoying my uneasiness.

Creepy bastard.

"How come SHIELD is keeping such a pathetic and weak mortal like you?" He spat out, taking a step forward while I did the exact opposite "What is so _special_ about you?"

Beside the fact that I wasn't from this universe and somehow ended up in a movie and basically know most things about you and other people, nothing. There was absolutely nothing special about me. Oh and I can burp the whole alphabet, if that counted somehow.

Of course I knew it wouldn't be wise to say the things I just listed out loud, so instead I pointed out: "Excuse me, mister God of Mischief, but you're in my _personal space bubble_."

At that statement Loki made a grimace. Uh oh, not a good sign for me. I really hope he's not pissed off now.

"You know who I am." Loki suddenly stated, calmly and devoted.

I furrowed my brown in confusion. Does he mean that I know he was a God from Norse mythology or I _know_ him.

I decided it would be safe to play dumb. "I… Don't know what you me-"

"Do not even think about playing dumb with me!" Loki threatened and took another step forward. Fear began to creep into me so I took more step back. But since I couldn't see what was behind me. I tripped over a stone and landed onto my butt again. That's going to leave a nasty bruise.

The God stopped right in front of me and looked down, emphasizing the fact that he was above me. Man, do I hate how I have to look up to meet his gaze.

"How do you know I am the God of Mischief?" He asked calmly. It took me a few seconds to process what he said, but then my eyes widened in realization. He didn't once tell me his name or who he was. And if I remember correctly, I did already call out to him in Stuttgart. Did I bust myself?

Wait no, logically speaking, I could say that SHIELD told me about him. He did ask me why I was with SHIELD… Hm, Loki actually can't know that I got arrested by SHIELD. I mean, every normal person would know that a girl like me wouldn't even be with a secret organization. I could have been just a normal person in Stuttgart, passing by the opera house and somehow got dragged into this whole world domination business…

"How do you know I'm in SHIELD's captivity?" I asked back instead, hoping I would have somehow outsmarted him.

Well, if he was surprised, he hid it well. "I know quite a lot about you, Jacqueline Walker." He answered in a mysterious yet malice ton.

I really don't like the direction this conversation was going. "I can say the same thing about you." I countered, not knowing why I said that. Didn't I want to keep as much information to myself as possible? "Just wanna say that you have one hell of a messed up life."

What the hell was I saying? Ugh, I hate it when my brain goes to autopilot. Does Loki even know what I mean?

Loki's eyes widened slightly, but then with one swift motion he grabbed me by my wrist, to the point of almost breaking it, and hoisted me up from the ground with ease. The familiar feeling of what happened a while ago came back to me. Balling my hands into a fist I started to struggle hard to free myself from him, not wanting to have a repeat of Stuttgart.

Annoyed at my pathetic attempt to struggle, he let go of my wrist and instead grabbed my left hand, forcefully opening it so he could see my palm. His next action completely took me by surprise.

Loki put his left hand over my one, barely touching it. A green light came out of his palm, healing my cuts. A warm feeling flooded through my veins. He did the same thing with my other hand. Amazed I watched how he used his magic. But the sight of it reminded me of him trying to kill me earlier, and that lead to me to millions of questions. What happened? Why didn't I get hit by the blast? Was there someone protecting me? And why did Loki just heal my wounds?

It seemed like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America had finally stopped with their bickering. Steve came up to me, putting a hand on my shoulder and made me go into the airship. I turned my head around and saw how Tony and Thor grabbed Loki by his arms. Loki looked at me briefly with an unreadable expression and then looked away with a tiny little smirk on his face.

oOoOoOo

"_In case it's unclear, you try to escape; you so much as scratch that glass… Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant. Boot."_

"_It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."_

"_Built for something a lot stronger than you."_

"_Oh, I've heard… The mindless beast, makes play to be the man… But I have met a rather more interesting person… Tell me, that girl, what does she have that makes you need to keep an eye on her? Isn't she just a normal civilian?"_

"_That is none of your business."_

"_I believe it is. I have read her files… No need to look so surprised, SHIELD does have a lot of enemies. A few of them are very skilled, what was the word again? Ah, hackers."_

"_I decided that she may be of some use to SHIELD."_

"_How desperate are you? You call on these lost creatures to defend you."_

"_How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."_

"_Ooh, it burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is."_

"_Yeah,well, you let me know if Real Power want a magazine or something."_

oOoOoOo

A bed.

Not really what I was used to, but it's a bed. One of those typical uncomfortable beds you have to sleep on during school trips, where the mattress was hard as stone, the pillow really flat and the bed sheet didn't even cover you whole body.

Well, it was better than nothing.

Arriving at the Helicarrier I was quickly separated from Steve, Stark and Thor. Loki was put in handcuffs and brought to his cell. Where it was, I had no idea, but I was sure I would find it someday. With my sense for direction probably not even in five years.

On the bed were fresh towels, cheap shampoo, shower gel and some new clothes. I unfolded and immediately made a face at the sight: It was a gray oversized hoodie, with the SHIELD logo on it.

Wow, way to stay undercover. What comes next, tea cups and fridge magnets from SHIELD? Do they actually have a souvenir shop on board? But nice that they thought about clothing, since I really need to get changed. I took all the stuff from the bed and marched toward the bathroom. Like I expected, it was a small one. The toilet was located on the right side of the door, the sink on the left. The shower consisted of a water crane on the wall and a piece of curtain. Oh well, at least it smelled nice here.

In no time I took off all my clothes, threw them into a pile in a corner and jumped into the shower, waiting for the water to get warm. I poured the whole shampoo bottle into my hair and scrubbed until I was sure my head was just mass of soap bubbled. Next I took the sponge, also poured the full bottle shower gel on it and scrubbed furiously my body, trying to get as clean as possible. The sight of the soap bubble turning slightly brown just showed me how much I needed this shower. Sometimes I wonder how the people from two hundred years ago even survived without bathing for such a long time.

Finally feeling that I was clean enough, I let the water rinse out all the soap. Since I was just starting to feel comfortable standing under the warm shower rain, my mind wandered back to what happened.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how _messed up_ everything was and how_ wrong_ it was of me to be on the Helicarrier with all the super heroes.

I always imagined that this was something grand, something exciting, a never-gonna-to-happen-in-life chance to be stuck in a movie. Of course back then I also thought this was something that would never happen. These past days have proven me wrong, though I have started to wonder if I wasn't just mixing up reality with fantasy. And it seemed like that in this universe, I was the only one who knew those people as_ fictional characters_.

A sick feeling started to grow inside my stomach. It suddenly occurred me just how _lonely_ I was in this world. My friends, who I have shared my passion for MARVEL with, don't even know who those people were anymore. And that thought me made me really sad and angry at the same time. It was like, my friends aren't the friends I used it know.

It took me a long time to realize that I was actually crying. I hadn't cried for a long time, but I guess it was time to finally let all those feeling out. And so I did.

I cried.

oOoOoOo

"_That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."_

"_The guy's not wrong about Loki; he does have the jump on us."_

"_What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit. It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does._

"_And I'll read about it."_

"_Uh huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us."_

"_Ah, see. I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare."_

"_You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart… This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege."_

"_But you can control it."_

"_Because I learned how."_

"_It's different."_

"… _That girl, Jackie, what is she doing here with SHIELD?" _

"_I don't know. I was just told there was a kid who could possibly help with our search."_

"_She doesn't look like a bright kid."_

"_Not everyone can be a genius like you."_

"_I know, pity right? I saw what happened in Stuttgart with her and Loki. She blocked the blast coming from the scepter."_

"_Oh really?"_

"_Yeah well, I had JARVIS check out her files, it didn't say anything about superpowers, so I'm wondering if SHIELD is keeping something from us, or her."_

"_SHIELD is always keeping important information to them."_

"_Touché. Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."_

"_So you're saying that the Hulk, the other guy, saved my life? That's nice. It's a sentiment. Save it for what.?"_

"_I guess we'll find out."_

"_You may not enjoy that."_

"_You just might."_

oOoOoOo

There was a knock on the door.

I didn't feel like answering it, so I stayed in bed, pretending not to hear it. The knock continued. I buried my head under the bed sheet and pillow, but still the sound wouldn't go away. It seemed like that person wouldn't give up until I opened the door.

Unwillingly I stood up and sulked toward the door, not without taking a quick glance into the mirror. Meh, I didn't look as horrible as I thought I would. Still, my eyes were a bit red and puffy.

I slowly opened the door and saw Agent Romanoff standing there. Somewhat taken aback to see her I looked to my left and right, checking if anyone else was there, and then back at the red head, asking. "Yes?"

"I'm here to see how you are." She replied.

"Peachy." I responded in a sarcastic tone. Yeah, like she gave a shit about how I felt here.

"Do you want to eat something?"

I nodded and wondered when I last had a proper meal. Food sounded really good at the moment.

"Follow me please, I'll show you where the canteen is."

I closed the door behind me and followed her through the corridors, trying to memorize the way. Which was pretty useless since I'm sure I will just get lost one way or another.

Before we even arrived I could smell the familiar scent of canteen food, which reminded me of school. Stepping inside, it was just like I imagined it would look like: A room with tables and chair arranged neatly on the one side, and on the other side was the place where you pick up your food. Cringing, I took a food tray and looked around to see what kind of meals they offered.

Natasha had left already.

There are three things I hate about canteen food: Tomatoes, unpeeled onions and sparkling water. And what did they offer as a meal? Tomatoes, unpeeled onions and sparkling water. At least they had mashed potatoes, which tasted like soap without salt.

So much about finally having a proper meal. I wonder how many workers have complained about it to director Fury? Really, maybe I should convince them to start a petition.

I sat down at a table in the small corner. I was alone here. There was only the sound of me munching this cheap excuse for food. I wasn't savoring the taste. In fact, I didn't taste anything at all. I may be eating something, but my brain didn't register that it was food. Swallowing the last bit of mashed potatoes down, I pushed the food tray away from me and leant back against the chair, letting out a tired sigh.

Someone sat down on the same table as me. It was Steve Rogers. He glared at the table next to him, hands balled into a fist, shoulder tensed. In short, he was angry. I wonder if a certain multibillionaire playboy had something to do with it…

"Did… Something happen?" I inquired carefully and politely.

"What?" Steve snapped out of his thoughts, like he didn't know I was sitting here "No, no, just… " he trailed off and searched for the right words to express his anger.

"Tony Stark?" I offered kindly, suggesting that Stark was simply the source of all unhappiness in the world.

Steve confirmed it with a nod of his head. Then he turned the subject to me: "How are you?"

"… Fine." Was my short reply.

"You don't sound fine at all."

"That's because I'm not."

Not understanding what I meant exactly, Steve raised an eyebrow, and made some gesture with his hands, wanting me to explain why.

I hesitated. Was it really wise to open up to him and tell him what was on my mind? Wouldn't he just think I was completely gaga? But then again, Steve _was_ the first person who knew about the supposed-to-exist-movies and stuff. And to be quite honest, if I was to share my secrets with anyone, I can be sure Steve Rogers would take it with him to his grave.

I decided to trust him. "Well, you know, everything is just so… _Unrealistic, realistic_. I mean, a few days ago, everything was just fiction. You were a fictional character, no offense," I added quickly seeing the look Steve was giving me "Gods didn't exist and there was never such a thing as the Tesseract. All those stuff were from comics, TVs, movies and so on… But now, they are just _so real_. Like it had always been a part of this world. But that's not _my_ world. And you know what? It sucks. It literally _sucks_."

I paused and waited for a reaction from Steve. When he didn't say anything, I continued confessing. "I don't belong here. Sure this is still planet Earth, but it's not the same Earth anymore. It's like, it _is_ my apartment in New York City, but at the same it _isn't_. Central Park looks the same, but it's not the same Park_ I _knew. And it all sucks because I feel like I'm all alone in this world!"

After my confession I realized that I was out of breath, near the verge of crying again. But then Steve suddenly said something totally unexpected.

"I can relate to you."

"Huh?"

"I can relate to you." Steve repeated "I can understand your situation. It is… Similar to mine. It's still the same planet I'm on, and yet it is completely different from how I remember it to be."

When he said that I recalled Captain America was from the past and during those seventy years a lot of things had changed. And if you think about it, his situation was actually a lot harder than mine, because Steve needed to adapt to his new environment, while I just had to deal with those super heroes.

"Just remember," Steve said, giving me a reassuring smile "you're not alone."

I returned the smile weakly and sighed. It felt good to let out all those feeling I had bottled up inside me for the past few days

"Thanks for listening." I thanked and stood up.

Steve did the same. "Anytime."

"I think I'm going to do a little exploring now."

"Okay. I need to go too. Stay out of trouble."

We both walked out of the canteen and departed. Steve went into the opposite direction. I walked without a real destination around until I somehow ended up in the main control room. Stepping inside, I saw Coulson and Thor standing at a monitor Curious about what he could possibly be showing the Avenger's Golden Retriever AKA Thor, I made my way toward them and stood on my tiptoes to get a better look.

"As soon as Loki took the doctor we moved Jane Foster. We've got an excellent observatory in Traunsee. She was asked to consult there very suddenly. Handsome fee, private plane, very remote. She'll be safe." Coulson explained and pointed at the computer screen, that showed a picture of Jane Foster.

Imagine what would happen now if Anakin Skywalker was here.

I walked toward those two and took a quick glance at the photo of Jane Foster on the screen. It always made me wonder why Thor never visited her in _Avengers_. Coulson took notice of me and greeted me with a nod of his head, which I returned with a small wave. He then continued talking to Thor, who by the way still hadn't take notice of my presence. Must be because of my short height.

Both started to walk away. Since I had nothing else to do, I just followed them like a lost puppy, listening to the conversation they were having. Coulson told Thor about Erik Selvig, how the God of Thunder had changed his life et cetera. The usual boring stuff. It didn't get any better until Thor mentioned how Asgardians fight like a Bilchsteim."

Obviously not knowing what a Bilchsteim was, Coulson asked: "… Like what?"

I too have no idea what a Bilchsteim was. It sounded kinda German or Scandinavia, but it didn't ring any bell in my head.

"Bilchsteim. You know, huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?" Thor explained. I snorted at his explanation. It didn't really help me imagine how a Bilchsteim looks like, or what it was for the matter.

"Don't think so." Coulson replied unsure.

I made myself a mental to look it up later and then randomly decided to join their conversation. "We don't have a Bilchsteim, but we had a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It's basically the same thing, I think."

Finally Thor took notice of me: "They are repulsive, and they trample everything in their path."

"Well, the T. Rex was aggressive and ate everything that was in their way." Okay, actually I knew nothing about Rex, I just felt like competing with Thor.

The God of Thunder crossed his arms, stood straight and glared down at me. I did the same thing, trying my best not to cower away under his gaze. But soon we both burst out laughing loudly.

"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard. May I ask for your name, my lady?" He held out a hand.

"Jackie Walker." I answered and took his hand. Instead of just shaking it he planted a light kiss on it. I blushed a bit, withdrew my hand and when I was sure Thor wasn't looking I quickly rubbed my hand against my hoodie to clean it.

The God turned around and looked out of the window. The sky was deep blue. Staring at it somehow made one really calm. I stood there next to him for some time, until the he decided to strike up another conversation. "My deepest apologies for what my brother did earlier."

I raised my eyebrow and wondered what he meant, but then I grimaced at the memories."Yeah, it was quite scary. But hey, I'm still alive. It wasn't your fault." It was just me and my big mouth.

Thor looked pretty relieved that I forgave him so easily. "When I first came to Earth, Loki's rage followed me here and your people paid the price. And now again. In my youth I courted war."

To be honest I didn't know what to say at this point. Sure, what he said was true, and it all happened in the MARVEL universe. Well, Loki's rage hadn't really got anything to with me, after all to me it was just some special effects on screen.

"War hasn't started yet. You think you can get Loki to tell us where the Tesseract is?" Out of nowhere Nick Fury appeared. That's already the second time I didn't notice his appearance. Was is just me and my attention span of a goldfish or did Fury had the awesome ability to pop out of nowhere?

The conversation that was about to happen between those two didn't interest me at all, and I was starting to get a little bit bored.

Cue time for a childhood story.

When I was six I got my very first video game console along with the very first game I played. A GameBoy Color along with _Pokemon Silver_. Most adults thought there was no way I was going to like this present, because that time I was six. I wouldn't know how to use the GameBoy and _Pokemon_ was something for boys. They said I would just leave it lying around somewhere. How wrong they were. When I was six I was already a big fan of _Pokemon. _I played the game nonstop. Afterwards my collection of video games grew: A GameBoy Advance, a Nintendo DS, a Wii, a PlayStation 2 and my newest addition, a Nintendo 3DS. Of course I also played games for PC, for example _Sims_. And now, imagine my disappointment when I asked someone on the Helicarrier if I could use their super high-techs to play _World of Warcraft_ and they said no.

Thinking that since I wouldn't be able to play games on them I might just watch the agents doing their work. I turned around and looked at a random computer screen. it showed Loki in his glass prison. To be honest, the prison reminded me of those capsules you get from some automates when you throw a coin in it. And Loki was the surprise in the capsule.

The God of Mischief stood with the back to the camera, hands folded, staring at nothing. I was ready to look away when I noticed from the corner of my eye how Loki turned around. He was now staring straight into the camera, his eyes capturing mine. I wanted to walk away, but at the same time I wanted to know what was going to happen next.

His face changed from emotionless to a mischievous smirk. Then he opened his mouth and said something. Something short. I didn't need to hear what he was saying, I somehow knew he was mouthing my name. My heart sped up and I felt blood rushing into my face. Quickly I turned my attention back to Nick Fury and Thor and pretended that nothing happened. They just finished their conversation.

"Then why do I feel like he's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?" Fury inquired and looked at Thor with sharp eye, who in return didn't reply, also not knowing what his baby brother was planning.

I knew why Loki was here, and believe me, I was just dying to open my mouth and spill everything out to them. But I knew it was the best if I kept it to myself. Who knows what would happen when they found out what Loki was planning. Well, I certainly hope Fury won't think I knew anything.

The director of SHIELD turned around and started to discuss some things with Coulson. I took it as a cue to leave the room before Fury decided to interrogate me again.

Time to go to the lab and cause some havoc.


	7. Chapter 7

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN**

**thanks to Lauraxfox!**

**Disclaimre: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter VII

In Which Loki Acts Like a Bitch

"_There's not many people that can sneak up on me."_

"_But you figure I'd come."_

"_After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."_

"_I wanna know what you've done to Agent Barton."_

"_I'd say I've expanded his mind."_

"_And once you've won. Once you're gone over the mountain. What happens to his mind?"_

"_Is this love, Agent Romanoff?"_

"_Love is for children. I owe him a debt."_

"_Tell me."_

"_Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh… Well, I made a name for myself. I have a specific skill set. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."_

"_And what will you do if I vow to spare him?"_

"_Not let you out."_

"_Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance and you bargain for one man?"_

"_Regime's fall every day. I tend not to weep over that, I'm Russian, or I was."_

"_And what are you now?"_

"_It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out."_

"_Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakoff's daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital file? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dropping, it's gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child at prayer. Pathetic! You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors, but they are a part of you, and they will never go away. I won't barter Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good work, and when he screams I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!"_

"_You're a monster."_

"_Oh no. You brought the monster."_

"_So, Banner? That's your play?"_

"_What?"_

"_Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Set the door to locked… Thank you, for your cooperation."_

oOoOoOo

"So Jackie, how did you got involved with SHIELD?"

Hm, good question. And hard to answer actually. Not even sure if 'involved' was the correct verb to be used in this context, since I'm not really working for/with them. The more answerable question would be 'What have you done to be stuck here on the Helicarrier for the rest of your life?'.

I replied lamely: "Murdering, illegally ripping off a ticket sellers head, conspiracy to murder, possible littering, you name it."

Ignoring the look both scientists were giving me, I put my both arms behind my back and strolled around the lab, looking at the scientific things with curious eyes. It's like visiting an exhibition.

Tony Stark kept touching a screen that seemed to be appearing out of nowhere and floating midair. If only my laptop screen would work like that at home, then I wouldn't need to take it everywhere with me. Bruce Banner was working on the other side of the lab, doing some tests on Loki's magical scepter. The scepter was wired up to lots of cables, which were connected to some devices. I carefully glanced at it and had to think about what happened in Stuttgart. A shudder went down my spine and I quickly tried to shake off those bad memories. Did SHIELD know about it? Surely they must have noticed it since they hacked into all these cameras and watched everything.

"What are you doing with all those…" I gestured at the technology in the room "Things?"

"Locating the Tesseract." Bruce responded, not even looking up once.

"Because SHIELD cannot even look after their cube." Tony added "I've heard you were supposed to help us?"

I snickered at the comment about SHIELD, thinking how true it was, but then paused at the latter one. "… Do I look like Albert Einstein?"

"Do we look like Einstein and Newton?" Stark countered and busied himself with some blueprints on the screen. No, you two are Banner and Stark AKA the science bros.

This short lived conversation died and the silence returned, where only the sound of machines beeping and the whooshing of the screen moving around me could be heard. Leaning back on a wall, I stared at the scepter. It was lying there innocently, waiting for something to happen. The longer I stared at it the more I felt like it was calling for me. Before I knew what was happening, I was walking toward it. The scepter glowed a dangerous blue. It was a beautiful color, yet at the same time it had something mysterious about it. Slowly I reached out a hand, wanting to touch the scepter. Just few inches away I could feel electricity coursing through my veins which got stronger the closer I came the scepter.

"Ouch!" I squeaked suddenly as blue sparks went flying when I touched the scepter and left my fingers with a slight burning feeling.

My Squeak caught the attention of both scientists, who turned their heads to look at me. Embarrassed about getting caught, I shook my hand to cool down the burn.

"Rule number one," Stark chastised me "don't touch anything in the lab if you have no idea what it is."

Until now, I didn't know just _how _annoying Stark could be. I always thought his sassiness was something cool and funny, but now experiencing it in real life; I realized that it wasn't that cool at all. Funny how views on things could be changed so quickly.

Stark kept listing some rules I should follow when I'm in the lab, while I just rolled my eyes and took a blueberry out of a bag I spotted on the table. Surely Stark wouldn't have a problem with me eating all his food.

Something hit my head. Turning around I saw Tony holding a thick folder in his hand. Iron Man took the blueberry bag away from me and handed me the folder, saying I could use the time to get familiar with the Tesseract, and that he was sure SHIELD wouldn't mind if I took a small glimpse into it.

I stared at it dumbfounded for a few seconds. It was a thick folder… I'm not even sure if I wanted to look through it. I bet it's really boring and written in such complicated English that my brain would go dead after reading the first few sentences.

Meh, I'll just look through the photos. I opened the folder. Indeed there were lots of pictures. I especially like the black and white one from the small village where the Tesseract was originally found. There was also a group photo of some people standing in front of a temple, all of them were old except one standing on the right. He was young, and had a handsome face. A sense of familiarity washed over me and I couldn't help but think I may have seen that face somewhere before. But this was ridiculous since this photo was really old. Skipping a lot of pages consisting of reports, calculations and analysis, I found a rather new photo of the Tesseract. Even though it was just a picture, I could already imagine just how bright the Tesseract would be glowing.

"How did you do that?" A voice interrupted my reading. Tony Stark had his two arms resting on the table, looking at me somewhat eagerly.

Confused and not knowing what he meant I looked around myself, and then back at Stark. "Do what?"

"Defend yourself from the blast in Stuttgart."

It took me a short moment to understand what he meant. I didn't really like to think back about it. So I simply shrugged my shoulders as a reply and put the folder away.

"C'mon, you can tell Uncle Tony your little secret."

Uncle Tony? Sounds nice, though I can't imagine Iron Man being a good uncle. He's more the type of uncle who'd most likely stay single forever, but have lots of fun in his life.

"Did you drink any serum?"

"Uh, no?"

"Or did you get hit by a meteor and then receive special powers? Or you're a telepath? Or perhaps a small witch, or-"

I interrupted him quickly. "I don't know, it just happened somehow, okay? And really, can we just drop this and pretend me and Stuttgart never happened?"

Stark defensively put up his hands. "Just asking, no need to get touchy." He turned back to the screen and continued with his work.

I leant back on the wall and ran a hand through my messy hair. I missed my hairbrush. But Iron Man did have a point there. How the fuck am I still alive?

"You know, if you don't have anything to do, would you please leave us alone?" Stark suggested. I guess he was trying to get rid of me now. I was kind of in their way. I stood up, ready to leave, when Bruce suddenly stopped me.

"Wait, I need a DNA test from you."

I turned around again and looked at him strangely. "… Why?"

Banner's one word answer was: "Mutation."

Something in my mind clicked. Bruce probably wanted to see if my DNA structure changed or got mutated in some way. That thought made me totally uncomfortable. Not only because I didn't want to end up as a mutant, but also because it reminded me of that failed biology exam I had about genetics and mutation last year.

I sat down on a chair and stretched out my left arm, waiting for Bruce to put in the needle into my skin. I quickly looked away and shut my eyes, waiting for it to be over.

"There all finished. Wasn't that bad, was it?" Bruce smiled and put a band-aid on it. It had the SHIELD logo on it. SHEILD sure had to mark everything as their own. Are they afraid that people would take their stuff and not give it back?

As I examined it, Uncle Tony's voice shouted in triumph about something that he found, while standing in front of the screen. I tried to see what it was, but right in this moment Nick Fury walked into the lab, not looking very happy.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" He demanded to know.

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Said person replied.

Looking back and forth between the bickering men, I pointed at the exit and announced rather timidly. "Uh yeah, I think that's my cue to leave." And with that I walked out of the lab, while Steve walked in. He was holding a weapon like thing in his hand. Uh oh, seems like the small fight between the soon-to-be Avengers was going to start soon. Better leave before things get too violent.

On my way to nowhere I saw Thor and Natasha talking to each other.

"Do not speak like this about my brother!" Thor shouted at Natasha, who looked rather unimpressed. She didn't even flinch once at Thor's loud booming voice. If it was me, I'd already have ran away.

Hm, shouldn't they be in the lab with the others? I decided to give them a small push. "Hey guys, just so you know, the others are fighting in the lab."

Hearing that both of them turned their head to look at me, and then walked away. Passing me by Natasha said silently so only I could hear: "Stay away from Loki, kid. He's dangerous."

Too bad I'm not going to listen to her advice, I'm actually planning to visit Loki. There are things I wanted to ask him about, or maybe I just wanted to talk to him. Loki was always a character that interested me. I don't think Loki was evil by heat, he was just a damaged soul, lost in this cruel universe.

I stopped dead when I realized that I had no idea where Loki's prison even was. There aren't many maps of the Helicarrier I could use to find my way and I doubt anyone would point the direction out to me.

Just then when I was ready to turn around and walk back to the lab I saw that right next to me was a wide open door. I stuck my head inside and looked around. My eyes then landed on the glass prison. A person was standing there, smiling at me creepily.

"Hello, Jackie."

oOoOoOo

"_Why shouldn't he let off a little stream?"_

"_You know damn well why! Back off!"_

"_Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."_

"_Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"_

"_Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthrophist."_

"_I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."_

"_I think I would just cut the wire."_

"_Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."_

"_A hero, like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."_

oOoOoOo

Loki had me strapped against a wall. Both arms extended, holding on the wall, he looked down at me with a smirk. My head was lowered down. I stared at my feet, unable to look into his eyes. I felt how one hand grabbed my chin and slowly raised my head to meet his eyes. They were beautiful. Slowly he lowered his head, his face getting nearer and nearer, until I felt his cold breath on my lips. And then he closed the distance between us…

Nah, just kidding.

Loki was still in his cell and I stood at the door, wondering whether I should go inside and talk to him or just walk away, pretending to never have seen him. Just few minutes ago I was so keen on finding him, and now that I actually found his prison, I felt like chickening out.

Isn't it weird that I found the door to his prison wide open?

"Lost, aren't we?" He sneered.

"No, just walking around without a real destination." I replied, trying to sound brave, but it came out more like a squeak. I must have sounded like Minnie Mouse.

Loki's smirk grew. "Why don't you come in have a talk with me. It does get boring here." He made an inviting gesture with his hands and pointed at the chair that was standing in front of his cell.

Looking back at the God and then at the chair, I pondered about his invitation. Of course it was a bad idea to do as he said. He was after all the bad guy, and I was supposed to stay as far as possible from him. But somehow I wanted to stay. Partly because I was always a fan of Loki, before I even knew about the MARVEL Loki.

When I was sure that no one was watching, I walked toward the chair and sat down. No one said anything for a while. I feel like I was in the principal's office.

"Nice cell." I started, looking around a bit. Inside I was face palming myself. Nice cell? What a stupid thing to say. "So, what's up?"

At that question Loki raised an eyebrow and looked up in confusion. I clamped a hand over my mouth and tried to contain my giggle, not believing that he actually did something like that. But then again, I think he wasn't used to Midgardian slang yet. The God of Mischief returned his gaze back to me and glared. My smirk immediately disappeared and I gripped the chair.

Loki chuckled darkly at my sudden stiffness. I felt utterly stupid now. "Do you know why you are still alive?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Sheer luck, I guess?" I answered, but it came out more like a question.

"That's because you have a small amount of Tesseract energy inside you."

I nodded at his explanation, but then widened my eyes, realizing what he actually just revealed.

"_What?!"_

Ignoring my outburst, Loki continued talking. "How else do you think you did not die earlier?"

I thought about what he said. It did make a bit of sense. But why would I have Tesseract energy inside me? How did it even get inside? Still I refused to believe it. "Do you have a proof?" Wow I sounded like someone just accused me of murder and I was denying everything.

"I confirmed it few hours ago. I could feel Tesseract signature radiating from you when I healed your wounds. So little that it could not be picked up with ordinary Midgardian technology."

I stayed silent. What he just said made me feel like someone punched me in the stomach. Loki didn't heal me because he was a nice guy, but because he wanted to see whether his assumption was right or not. It made me lose a bit faith in him. And how come I was radiating Tesseract signatures? I didn't touch the cube, let alone see it with my own eyes!

Just as if Loki had read my mind, he suggested: "Perhaps you came into contact with the Tesseract when you were still an infant."

"Eh no, that can't be, because well…" How do I explain that it's not possible without having to tell him the whole truth about me? "It's actually really funny, you see, the Tesseract is actually not supposed to exist…" I finished lamely, hoping he will just drop the subject. Not so much luck with that though.

"Are you familiar with the story behind the Tesseract?" Loki asked.

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. Was I familiar with it? Well, I only know about it from the Captain America movie, but I guess it wasn't that much. So I just shook my head. The taunting smirk came back onto his face. Arms behind his back, Loki started to pace back and forth in his cell.

"Allow me to enlighten you, mortal. The Tesseract was a gift from Odin to the humans a long time ago. Why the All-Father would do such a foolish thing and give it to handful mortals is beyond me. Along with the Tesseract, a warrior was sent down to Earth to keep a watchful eye on the cube, making sure the mortals weren't abusing its power."

I didn't know why Loki was telling me the story, or why he was even willing to talk to me. But what I did know was that his voice – while telling a story – had something really relaxing in it. Soon I found that I wasn't sitting too stiffly on my chair anymore. I loosened up and waited for him to continue telling the story, but strangely he remained silent.

"And then?" I urged him on.

"You know the rest."

I stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't be serious, could he? How was I supposed to know the rest of the story? Unless he meant the hipster Norwegian hid the Tesseract in a temple and then the German stole it. Then yeah, I know the rest. Though the more I thought about the story, the more I had the feeling that something wasn't entirely right…

"What happened to that guard?" I asked. It just didn't fit. I mean, Odin even thought of a guard for the Tesseract, so why was it still taken away?

That question made Loki stop pacing around. He turned around and stared at me. "This is what I have been wondering about too." Well that makes two of us. "But perhaps _he _was the reason why you have Tesseract energy inside you."

Again a silence followed afterwards, which was quickly broken by my sudden outburst of laughing. This took the God of Mischief aback. Furrowing his brows in anger, he demanded me to explain to His Highness why I was laughing my ass off. Calming down, I slid down from the chair slightly and rested both hands on my belly.

With an amused smirk, I commented: "That was a good one."

Elegantly Loki raised an eyebrow.

I elaborated: "Me having met that guard."

Sure, I was forgetful sometimes but I think I would have noticed if I've ever met a two and half meter tall guy who weighed as much as an elephant, dressed in a battle armor, face covered in beard. Well, at least that's how I imagined an Asgardian guard/warrior would look like. I looked back at Loki and immediately dropped that smirk of mine. He looked truly pissed off. And somewhat offended.

I sat up straight on my chair again, looking back at the still open door, wondering if now was a good time make a dash for it and never come back.

But Loki's sudden question made me turn my head back to him. "Are you scared?"

He stared at me. My brows furrowed in confusion, not knowing how I should respond to that question.

"You don't know the answer yourself, do you?" He stated.

I wasn't listening. Was I scared? Yes. But of what exactly? Of SHIELD? Of Loki? Of what was going to happen? Scared for my life, that I might die? I don't know.

Loki continued talking. "You should be scared. For your life and for the people that are dearest to you." He paused dramatically, waiting for a some reaction from me. "Oh, I forgot. You don't have any people that are dear to you."

At that my heart started to beat a little faster.

"Only a workaholic father, who seldom visits his daughter without being able to see the face of his wife who ran away with another man."

My lips went dry. I stood up, trying to say something, but couldn't The God only continued talking: "Tell me, how does it feel to be left by the only family you have?"

It was getting hot and cold at the same time. I sucked in a deep breath of air, but realized that it was still hard for me to breath. Sweat began to form on my forehead. I gripped the chair harder, knuckles turning white.

"From the moment you were born into this world, you were alone. Don't even imagine you can gain the love of someone. You are nothing but a pathe-"

"Am I cursed?" I suddenly whispered, making Loki stop talking.

The God of Mischief looked at me questioningly. I took it as a sign to keep talking. "What am I?"

Loki furrowed his brows in confusion.

I kept talking. "The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that say, was it?"

His eyes widened in realization.

"You were knee-deep in Jotun blood. Why would you take me?" I quoted "You took me for a purpose. What was it?"

Loki's face paled, something I didn't know was possible for him, since he was already so pale.

"So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up here until you might have use for me?" The world flew out of my mouth like have known them the whole time, sounding so natural.

"Stop it." Loki demanded in a silent whisper, but I only ignored him.

"Because I am the monster parents tell their children about at night?"

His face turned into anger and pain at the same time. "I said, _stop talking,_ mortal!"

"You know, it all makes sense now, why you favored Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asga-"

"SHUT UP!" the loud shouting of Loki and his banging against the glass with his fists finally made me shut my mouth. He stared at me with hatred and panted heavily.

I literally jumped up from my chair, knocking it over in the process. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. I crossed the line and now he was going to murder me in my sleep. Loki's face turned from hateful to pained, almost as if he was going to start crying soon. It wouldn't surprise me. Personally I thought that of all the people he was the most emotional one. At this moment I just wanted to be inside the cell and give him a hug. Sometimes I think all he needed was a hug. It may not say much, but at least it would make someone fell better.

I opened my mouth again to apologize, but then the whole room started to shake. I grabbed onto the nearest railing, waiting until everything had calmed down. Carefully I glanced over to Loki, who was standing safely in that glass cell. He was now wearing a triumphant smirk. A loud angry roar could be heard from far away.

We're doomed.

oOoOoOo

"_Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me. We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never…"_

"_Your life?"_

"_Bruce!"_


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so this chapter is filled with DIALOGUES and HORRIBLENESS, CONFUSINGNESS and OHEHMGEE GUYS I'M SO SORRY. And there is that one really sad scene... You know what scene... Yep, I decided to let him die, because well, I'm following the movie plot so yeah, he's dead *purposely not saying name***

**Wow, already chapter eight? Damn, only two chapters and then Jackie's adventure ends :P **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter VIII

In Which I Got Kidnapped (Again)

„_Stark, I'm here!"_

"_Good. See what we got. I gotta get this super conducting cooling system back online before I can access the rotors and work on dislodging the debris. I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position. What's it look like in there?"_

"_It seems to run on some form of electricity."_

"_Well, you're not wrong."_

"_The relays are intact. What's our next move?"_

"_Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push."_

"_Well if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded!"_

"_Then stay in the control unit and reverse polarity long enough to disengage mag-"_

"_Speak English!"_

"_See that red lever? It'll slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it, wait for my word."_

oOoOoOo

I was running fast like a headless chicken, desperately trying to find the lab, where Loki's scepter was.

After hearing the angry roar from the Hulk, I quickly ran out of the Loki's cell. My first thought was to get the damn scepter before Loki does. Didn't Coulson get killed by his scepter? Even though I'm not really a big fan of Coulson I don't want him to die. Beside, his trading cards still need to get signed.

The good thing was I managed to find the lab without getting lost too much. The bad thing was I was way too late. The lab was half destroyed and the scepter was gone.

"Dammit!" I yelled angrily, kicking a table to let out my anger. I was angry. Angry that I didn't get to watch the movie, angry that I'm involved in this whole mess, angry at Loki for being such a douchebag and mostly angry at myself for being completely useless. I leaned against a wall, trying to catch my breath form running so much. That's what I get for skipping P.E lesson. People outside the lab were screaming, fighting and shooting, but it seems like no one took notice of the presence of a girl in the lab. Oh well, better for me this way.

I then suddenly remembered what Loki said about me radiating off Tesseract signatures and how it saved me from the blasts from his scepter, and how Bruce later took blood sampled from me before I went off to look for Loki. Wondering if he actually had the time to analyze it, I began to search for any form of test results. It wasn't easy to find something in a destroyed lab, especially of most of the things is buried under a pile. After a while searching and not finding anything I gave up. I sat down on the ground and started to think.

Hm, what happens now? The Black Widow gets chased by the Hulk, Steve and Tony are doing whatever the hell they are doing, same goes for Fury, Barton is currently blowing shit up, and Thor…

My eyes widened. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. I should have stayed with Loki instead of coming here. I got up quickly and I ran back to Loki's cell, hoping I would get there before it's too late and a lot of bad things happen.

oOoOoOo

"_It's Barton, he took our system. He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?"_

"_This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."_

oOoOoOo

I was too late.

Before I could enter Loki's cell I saw Thor coming from the opposite direction, also intending to go to his beloved little brother. In panic I picked up my pace and shouted: "Wait Thor, don't go, it's a trick!" But of course, he didn't listen to me and ran into the room.

When I entered the room, Thor was already locked in the glass prison, and Loki disappeared and appeared again next to the control panel.

"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" He asked.

Thor user Mjionir trying to break the glass, but just like Fury said, the glass prison is Hulk proof. There's no chance he can get out of it, unless someone opens it for him.

Seeing as Loki probably hasn't noticed my presence yet I made a dash toward the control panel, when suddenly two arms seized around my arms and waist, making me unable to take another step forward.

"Let go of me, you stupid Seasalt Ice-cream!" I kicked and screamed, but the person behind me had a steel grip. It didn't take me too long to realize that it was another one of Loki's bastard clone.

The real one smirked and said: "The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?"

"No, don't!" I yelled at Loki wanted to push the button. Just then Coulson appeared. He was holding a very dangerous looking weapon, the same Steve carried into the lab a while ago.

"Move away, please." Coulson said and pointed the weapon at Loki, who slowly moved away from the control panel.

"You like this?" the agent asked "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?"

I struggled harder, but the clone didn't even budge an inch. I saw from the corner of my eye how Loki appeared behind Coulson with the scepter in his hand. With one move, Loki stabbed Coulson. He fell to the ground.

"Nooo!" Thor and I both yelled at the same time. Loki quickly pressed the button and a hole appeared in the middle of the room, dropping the glass prison down.

I stopped to struggle and looked at Couslon, then back at Loki, tears streaming down my face. The clone was still holding me.

"No…" I whispered. Coulson is dying. And this is my entire fault because I could have prevented it, but I didn't. I really hope the fandom isn't going to hate me for that.

The Loki clone that was holding me disappeared. My legs felt like jelly, I couldn't stand properly so I sank down to the floor, sobbing. I wasn't really fond on Coulson when I watched 'Thor', but he turns out to be not a really bad guy. And now he was dying in front of my eyes. Loki walked toward me and forcefully grabbed me by my arm, making me stand up.

"You are coming with me." He said in a commanding tone and dragged me to the door. I tried to resist, but he was too strong.

He stopped walking though when Coulson said something. "You're gonna lose."

Loki turned back and asked with a mocking smile: "Am I?"

"It's in your nature."

Loki laughed, still holding me with a death grip. "Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

"You lack conviction." Coulson answered.

"I don't think I…" Loki started but then got interrupted by a blast and got shot through the wall. Luckily he let go of my arm.

"So that's what it does."

I quickly ran to Coulson and kneeled down, taking his hand. "C'mon Coulson, you can't die now. The others need you."

"It's too late." He said, his voice getting weaker and weaker.

"No, it's not." I reassured "I'm sorry I didn't ask Steve to sign the trading cards for you. I promise I'll do that, just don't die."

"You really promise?" Coulson asked and grabbed into his jacket pocket, taking out the trading cards, handing them to me.

"I promise." I said and took the cards, putting them in my jeans pocket, but not letting go of Coulson's hand. "But you have to stay alive."

He laughed weakly, coughing up more blood. I looked at the door and then back at Coulson, wondering whether I should go now and fine a medic so his wounds could be treated or stay by his side, because it's not a nice thing to leave a dying person alone.

"How touching." A mocking voice sneered. I looked up and saw Loki towering over my kneeling form. He looked a bit beaten up, but still handsome. "Stand up, we're leaving now."

I glared at him hatefully. "No." I spat out.

"Then let's do it the harder way." He said in a somewhat mocking disappointed tone.

Before I could ask him what he meant by that, his hand ghosted over my face and then everything went black.

oOoOoOo

"_Cap, need a lever."_

"_I need a minute here!"_

"_Lever! Now!"_

_oOo_

"_I'm sorry, boss. They got rabbited."_

"_Just stay awake. Eyes on me."_

"_No, I'm clockin' out here."_

"_Not an option."_

"… _Loki took the girl with him."_

"… _Then we have a problem."_

"_It's okay, boss. This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to…"_

_oOo_

"_These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them. We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming… Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. But after seeing Walker's blood sample test result I realized that the Tesseract won't function fully without her. Any now Loki has her… I never out all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group or remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson dies still believing in that idea, in heroes… And Jackie always believed in heroes too… Well, it's an old fashioned motion."_

_oOo_

"_You fell out of the sky."_

"_Did I hurt anybody?"_

"_There's nobody around here to get hurt. You did scare the hell out of some pigeons though."_

"_Lucky."_

"_Or just good aim. You were awake when you fell."_

"_You saw?"_

"_The whole thing, right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck ass nude. Here… I didn't think those would fit you until you shrunk down to regular size fella."_

"_Thank you."_

"_Are you an alien?"_

"_What?"_

"_From outer space, an alien?"_

"_No."_

"_Well, then, son, you've got a condition."_

_oOo_

"_Clint, you're gonna be alright."_

"_You know that? Is that what you know? I got… I gotta go in though. I gotta flush him out."_

"_We don't have that long, it's gonna take time."_

"_I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"_

"_You know that I do."_

"_Why am I back? How did you get him out?"_

"_Cognitive recalibration I hit you really heard in the head."_

"_Thanks… Tasha, how many agents?"_

"_Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for."_

"_Loki, he got away?"_

"_Yeah. He took a girl with him."_

"… _Jacqueline Walker, right?"_

"_Mhm. Do you know why?"_

"_The Tesseract showed me a vision of her and Loki ordered us to find as much information about her as possible."_

"_I don't suppose you know where the cube is now?"_

"_I didn't need to know. I didn't ask. He's gonna make his play soon though. Today."_

"_We gotta stop him."_

"_Yeah? Who's we?"_

"_I don't know. Who's ever left."_

"_Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose."_

"_Now you sound like you."_

"_But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?"_

"_He didn't, I just…"_

"_Natasha."_

"_I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger; I'd like to wipe it out."_

_oOo_

"_Was he married?"_

"_No. He was a uh… cellist, I think."_

"_I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."_

"_He was an idiot. And so is that Jackie girl."_

"_Why? For believing and getting kidnapped?"_

"_For taking on Loki alone. And she should have stayed away from Loki's cell."_

"_He was doing his job. And I suspect that SHIELD purposely left the door to Loki's cell open. They wanted to see how much she actually knows about him, hoping that somehow it will crack him. Obviously it went wrong."_

"_He was out of their league. They should have waited. They should have…"_

"_Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony."_

"_Right. How did that work for Coulson?"_

"_Is this the first time you've lost a solider?"_

"_We are not soldiers! I'm not marching to Fury's fife."_

"_Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta out that behind us and get this done."_

"_I think there was another reason while Loki took Jackie. Dr. Banner made a quick analysis from her blood sample. Her blood cells were radiating Tesseract signatures. We don't know why though."_

"_And Loki took her because... ?"_

"_According to the files about the Tesseract it has always acted unstable, it went on and off, basically it was PMSing the whole time."_

"_Can you please get to the point?"_

"_Dr. Banner and I think that maybe with a few blood drops from her the Tesseract can be stabilized."_

"_But Loki still needs a power source, if we can out together a list…"_

"_He made it personal."_

"_That's not the point."_

"_That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"_

"_To tear us apart."_

"_He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he had to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us; he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."_

"_Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart."_

"_Yeah. That's just the preview, this is… This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered! … Son of a bitch."_

_oOo_

"_Sir."_

"_Agent Hill?"_

"_Those cards, they were in Coulson's locker not in his jacket. He gave the one in his jacket the girl."_

"_They needed the push… They found it. Get our communication back up, whatever you have to do. I want eyes on everything."_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_And make sure to find the whereabouts from Walker. We need to find her before Loki uses her."_

"_Understood, sir."_

_oOo_

"… _Who are you?"_

"_I am everything and nothing."_

"_That doesn't answer my question. Am I dreaming?"_

"_Maybe you are, maybe you are not."_

"_Okay?"_

"_So the Tesseract decided to bring you back."_

"_Bring me back… to where?"_

"_The place where you truly come from. Or you ancestor at least."_

"_I don't think I understand. Care to explain?"_

"_That, my dear child, is for me to know, and for you to find out."_

"_Helps me a lot. Can you at least give me a small hint?"_

"_Do you still remember the stories you grandfather told you about your ancestors?_

"_Yeah, a bit. Why?"_

"_You just need to connect the dots from his stories to the Tesseract."_

"_Wait, is it true that I have like, Tesseract energy coursing through my veins?"_

"_It is only temporally, it's a side effect from travelling through the Tesseract."_

"_Aha. But will it go away? The Tesseract energy signature thing in me…"_

"_It will, don not worry."_

"_Can I then go home when this is all over?"_

"_You are home."_

"_No I'm not."_

"_You may just have to accept it, whether you like it or not."_

oOoOoOo

I blinked.

I was staring at a ceiling. Moving my head around a bit I notice that it's unfamiliar surroundings. And it was moving. I realized that I was in an aircraft. What just happened? Oh right, Loki put me on sleep. Probably some stupid spell. And Coulson died. I felt a guilt pang in my heart, but then remembered the promise I made to him. Checking my jeans pocket I felt that the cards were still there. Hopefully undamaged. Did I just have a dream? Yes, but about what? There was that weird voice… I think it said something about grandpa… The stories used to tell me… and then something about connecting the dots to the Tesseract… Eh, I'll figure it out later. I have time. I think.

Slowly I sat up and clutched my head a bit. It was hurting. Some side effect maybe? I blame it on Loki.

"Motherfucking son of a bitch…"I cursed Loki under m breath, totally not aware that said person was right next to me, sitting on a bench, until he said something.

"I certainly hope you are not addressing that to me." He said. I snapped my head to his direction, staring at him with hate and fear. He sat there, arms and legs crossed, holding the scepter, looking down at me.

"Hm." He suddenly said. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "The effect of the spell faded away quicker than I thought. It should have lasted until we reached our destination."

I was actually unimpressed about that. I'm sure it has got to do something with the Tesseract energy inside me, but I didn't voice it out loud. Loki is a clever dude, he must have notice that too. If I had the chance I'd sleep most likely longer than the spell lasted. I have this awesome ability to be able to fall asleep everywhere if I want to, it doesn't matter how loud or uncomfortable it is, as long as I can sleep it's fine.

"Is there a good reason you kidnapped me?" I asked, getting up from the floor, and stretched a bit. The aircraft made a turn, making me lose my balance and almost fall flat on the floor, if Loki hadn't grabbed my arm. He made me sit down on the bench opposite from him, so that we were face to face. A sudden déjà-vu overcame me. Except this tome the roles were switched. I was the prisoner and he my kidnapper.

"You are not an ordinary mortal." He stated.

"Oh no, I can assure you, I am. In fact, I'm a pretty boring one; really, there's nothing special about me." I replied rather sarcastically.

Loki took out a small vial out of his pocket and threw it to me. I managed to catch it before it fell to the ground and shatter into pieces. Holding up the vial, I realized that there was a red substance in it. Blood? My blood?

"One of my minions found it in the laboratory while retrieving my scepter for me. There was also a nice printed out analysis, but it didn't explain _why_ you are radiating off Tesseract signatures. But that's not so important for now. Interesting what those two mortals found out in such short among of time. Though I am rather proud to say I found it out faster than those two." Loki explained while eyeing me.

"It still doesn't answer my question. Why am I here?" I asked again, giving him the vial back.

Loki's smirk grew. I have a bad feeling about this.

"You are the key to stabilize the Tesseract."

"… I thought you needed Irdium for that." I muttered, not believing what I just heard.

"That too. I remember you may have mentioned Irdium before, in our earlier conversation, though I am curious how you know that I need that too."

I searched my mind through various conversations I had with him. I vaguely remember them all except one…

"Weren't you telling me what a horrible person I am?" I asked.

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Something about that, I believe." He answered in an unimpressed tone, that just makes me want to punch him the face. Wow, I can't believe I have imagined him between my legs before.

"Oh, no wonder I don't remember that, I was too busy having my feelings hurt."

"And I wasn't?" Loki asked back, his anger slowly rising.

I bit my tongue to hold back what I wanted to say. It wouldn't do me any good if I keep provoking him, plus it will lessen my chance to well, befriend him.

Do I like him? Yes, I prefer Loki over Thor. I always had a weak spot for fictional characters with sad background stories et cetera. Plus he's got a British accent, it just makes me like him more. Though I cannot honestly say that I really like him at this moment.

Does he need a hug? Yeah, maybe, and a solid boot in the face. But I highly doubt that a hug will change a lot of thing. With my luck Loki might just push me away when I try to hug him. I carefully glanced at Loki. He had his eyes closed. Was he resting? Or thinking? Either way, he looked like he hadn't slept for days. A wonder he's still walking around.

I closed my eyes too and leaned my head against the wall behind me, thinking about that dream I had before I woke up. Okay so, that voice said something about my ancestors I think, mainly that what my grandpa told me about them… Let's see…

My ancestors are Norwegian. They were monks, living in a monastery or temple in Norway that used to guard something precious, I think something from outer space. No plan what it was exactly. But I remember that my grandpa had a small piece of that super precious thing. He showed me it once. It was a blue, glowing small piece. Grandpa said it belonged to our ancestors, but it was passed down from generation to generation. No idea where it is now, my Grandpa passed away a few years ago, but he never told me where he put it.

And now to the Tesseract. It's a weird cosmic cube, according to "Captain America: The first Avenger" from Asgard, and resided in a monastery in Norway, before it was taken away.

Hm, Grandpa's story, the Tesseract… Grandpa's story, the Tesser-

My eyes snapped open in realization. "Holy _shit_!" I said to no one "I'm such a stupid brownie!"

Unfortunately I woke up Loki with my sudden outburst, and he wasn't very pleased with that.

"What now?" He asked rather annoyed.

"I uh, just remembered that I forgot to feed my goldfish before I left." I lied, not daring to look at him.

Loki raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing what I just said, but he decided not to ask any further, which I'm quite thankful for. I ran a hand through my hair again and thought everything carefully over.

So, we know that the Tesseract can be used for travelling. And maybe my ancestor used the Tesseract to travel to a dimension where this whole thing doesn't exist, well except he took a small piece of Tesseract with him. Years passed, and that small piece of shit- Tesseract I mean, decided to do another dimension travel, and it somehow happened overnight. When I was asleep maybe. But I don't have that piece of Tesseract. Do I? I don't know, maybe Grandpa did give me it; I just misplace it somewhere like I always do. Well, that would be bad. Anyway, that doesn't explain why I'm the key to stabilize the Tesseract. Shouldn't it be that small piece? But Loki doesn't know that I have it. If it even is a Tesseract piece. Oh, and I have Tesseract energy inside me. Temporarily. 'Side effect', like that mysterious voice said.

My thoughts were interrupted by the pilot. "Sir, we have reached our destination, Stark's tower."

"Good." Loki said and rose up from his seat, grabbing me by my arm and dragged me out of the aircraft "Today shall be a glorious day in Midgardian history."

I recognize the place as a tall building in Manhattan. Party on Starks Tower.

Yay.

* * *

**Should I write a sequel when this one is complete? Cause I really wanna write 'The Amazing Spiderman'(maybe Peter ParkerxJackie Walker) but it's kinda hard to fit Jackie in that one... ****Yeah, I totally want to ship Peter Parker with Jackie now :P I'm sorry Loki, I still love you, it's just... **


	9. Chapter 9

**So I bought Captain America for Blue-Ray and there was that one bonus scene called 'On the way to Thor's hammer', Coulson stopped to buy some snacks and DAMN, was he badass in it. Makes me feel really really really bad killing him in the last chapter -.-**

**Whoahoa, already chapter nine, only one more chapter to go and then story ends :P But fear not, I have already started to work on the sequel, which is called 'One Step Aside' by the way xD it's probably going to contain some Peter Parker/OC thing :P **

**I literally have a stupid grin on my face when I read your reviews and how you guys go 'No, Jackie should end up with Loki, they are meant to be, not peter and her' xD**

**Anyway, onto the story. I apologize for the weird beginning :P**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter IX

In Which Loki Gets Smashed

Entry #9

I finally connected the dots between the stories I heard from my Grandpa about and the one about the Tesseract. Loki not only needed Irdium to stabilize the portal, he also needs the missing piece of the Tesseract, or that's what's left. In this case my blood, since there is Tesseract energy flowing in it. Today is the final showdown and I really hope that there will be a happy ending.

Signed Jackie Walker

oOoOoOo

It was a sunny day. Not the best weather for something bad that is going to happen soon.

Not far away there was a man working on a strange looking device that was attached to the Tesseract. It was glowing blue. He didn't notice my presence, or my desperate shouts for help. Or he was too busy to hear me. Or he just decided to ignore me.

Damn.

There was another person, who stood a lot closer to me. A God, actually. I couldn't see his face. He was holding a golden scepter in his hand, wearing a confident smirk.

Hm.

Elizabeth lived in England. She lived in a high-class society, and all she had to do was to uphold that image. She wore new dresses and shoes, she wore the make-up, and she attended to evening parties.

She loved it.

But there was something missing in her life.

Freedom. Adventure. Love.

She found her salvation on James. James was courageous, dashing and a Gentleman.

Rich.

He was an amazing navy officer. She was the beautiful daughter of a duchess. They immediately fell in love. There was no room for sadness, no room for pain, no room for imperfection. Together they could do anything. Have anything. He would keep her safe. She would keep him sane.

Elizabeth was happy.

FUCK YOU ELIZABETH.

I am not happy. Do me a favor. If you are at your computer reading this, go out and find someone you love and hug them for at least five minutes. Chances are either they need a hug or they needed a hug and you weren't there to give them one. So go now and make it up for them. I could use a good hug right now, but I doubt the person clutching my arm is even humanly possible to give me a hug. Ever.

"OW, LOKI YOU'RE CLUTCHING MY ARM TOO TIGHTLY!" I shouted and tried to get out of his grip.

"Be quiet!" He hissed but loosened his grip a tiny little bit "I have waited all too long for this day."

"The day where you're going to lose your dignity?" I asked sarcastically. As a response he tightened his grip again. I winced. That is going to leave a big, fat, ugly bruise. Again.

He dragged me into Stark's penthouse that was in his tower, opened a door and threw me into the room. I stumbled a bit but then regained my balance. It was a bathroom. A really expensive looking bathroom a la Tony Stark taste. Unfortunately he forgot to build in a window.

"You will stay here until you are in use." Loki said and then slammed the door. A clicking sound could be heard, signalizing that he locked the door.

Still I walked to the door and tried to open it. It didn't budge. I tried it again. And again. Until I put one foot against the door, both hands clutching the door knob and pulling hard on it. The result was that the door knob went off while I fell hard on the floor. The door was still locked though.

Great.

I'm locked in a luxurious bathroom with no window and food, and the chances to get out of here are slim to nothing. On top of that, Loki needs my blood to stabilize the Tesseract, which means that he will most likely kill me just to get my blood. Somehow I doubt he will just use a small dagger to give me a cut and then let few blood drops on the Tesseract.

Now I know how Will Turner from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' must have felt when Barbossa and his crew wanted to kill him to break a curse.

I lied there on the floor for a while, trying to think of way to get out of the fucking bathroom. When is Tony Stark going to come and save the day? I felt how tears started to form in my eyes, but I quickly shook them away.

Okay Jackie, try to keep a calm head, you need to stay calm and figure a way out.

I stood up and looked around. Maybe Tony has got some secret passage ways build in his bathroom. It wouldn't surprise if there actually was one. I started to open every cupboards, looked under the carpet, but I couldn't find any secret passage ways.

I pushed the last standing cupboard away. There wasn't a secret passage way either. But there was an air shaft. My last hope. And why not? I have always wanted to climb into one of those things and use it as an escape.

I needed to be quick, I'm sure I have wasted a lot of time on searching. Loki could come in any minute now. I opened the air shaft and looked inside it. Much to my relief, there weren't any spider webs hanging around like I thought there would. Maybe that's because the tower is still new.

Kneeling down I carefully climbed into the air shaft. Thankfully I'm short, therefore I could move without much trouble. On the other side, it was dark and I didn't have a flashlight with me, meaning I had to move around in the dark, hoping I would not end up back in the bathroom. That would be bad.

When I was sure that I'd never find my way out and have to rot in Stark's air shaft, I saw a small light coming from not far away. Quickly I scrambled there. It was an opening. Looking down, there was a long hallway and a big door. It said 'Emergency Exit'. That's good, because I was kind of having an emergency that moment.

Jumping out of the air shaft I quickly ran to the emergency exit and opened it. For a few seconds I was blinded by the sun light. I could do a happy dance right now if it wasn't the fact that Loki had probably already started to look for me.

I looked over the railing down at the streets. It was a long way down. Ah well, at least I didn't have to go the whole way up, because that would totally kill me. Taking a deep breath, I began to go down the fire escape stairs.

oOoOoOo

"_Please tell me you're not going to appeal to humanity."_

"_Uh… Actually, I'm planning to threaten you."_

"_You should have left your armor on for that."_

"_Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage. You've got the blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?"_

"_Stalling me won't change anything."_

"_No, no, no! Threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one."_

"_The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that."_

"_Uh from what we found out is you can't stabilize the Tesseract without a few blood drops from Jackie, which leads me to my next question. Where is she and what have you done to her?"_

"_Oh I haven't done anything to her yet. I simply locked her up, but when I ordered someone to summon her she wasn't there anymore. I assume she escaped."_

"_Clever girl. And without her blood, you can't stabilize the Tesseract. And without stabilizing the portal, you can't bring your little alien play toy army here."_

"_Don't worry, I have her blood, it's in a small vial I gave Dr. Selvig. How else would be the portal open now?"_

"_Hm, so you stole the vial with her blood sample from the lab."_

"_What have I to fear?"_

"_The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing."_

"_Yes, I've met them."_

"_Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But, let's do a head count here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."_

"_That was the plan."_

"_Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."_

"_I have an army."_

"_We have a Hulk."_

"_I thought the beast had wandered off."_

"_You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this, where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it."_

"_How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you? … It should work!"_

"_Well, performance issued. You know? … JARVIS, anytime now."_

"_You will all fall before me."_

"_And there's one other person you pissed off! His name is Phil."_

oOoOoOo

I was panting heavily. Finally what seemed like an eternity for me I have reached the ground. The first thing I did was to sit down and catch my breath. I looked up to see just how much I went. Damn you Stark for building such a high tower.

I stood up and quickly ran away, trying to get as far away as possible from the tower. At least Loki can't stabilize the Tesseract now, since he doesn't have my blood.

I stopped dead track.

Oh fuck.

The small vial! He still has it! Oh dammit, why the hell did I even gave it back to him?

I turned around and saw that the portal was open. The Chitauri were coming out of it, with their cool looking flying jet thing. I want to have one too. From far away I could see another person landing on Stark's tower.

Thor.

The Chitauri warriors started to attack the streets. I picked up my pace and ran faster, trying to at least find one familiar face.

oOoOoOo

"_Loki, turn off the Tesseract or I'll destroy it!"_

"_You can't. There is no stopping it. There is only the war!"_

"_So be it."_

oOoOoOo

I heard the sound of something fast flying toward me. Without looking back, I ran faster, when suddenly someone picked me up of the ground,

"Oh Jesus!" I screamed and realized it was Iron Man.

"Tony, not Jesus." He said, probably with a smirk. Not sure since he is wearing that mask. "It's good to see you all healthy. I heard you escaped out of my tower. How did you do that without getting caught by JARVIS?"

"The air shaft and the emergency exit." I replied and then saw a jet coming.

"Stark, we're heading north east." Natasha said "And I see, you have Jackie with you."

I gave her a small wave as she addressed me.

"What, did you stop for a drive-thru?" Tony asked and then slowed down a bit and flew deeper until we were on the ground. He carefully set me down.

The jet did a small crash landing, but the others were unharmed. A giant airship that looked like a worm came out of the portal, along with more Chitauri warriors.

Steve came first running to me, putting both hands on my shoulder and asked: "Are you hurt? Did Loki do something to you?"

"I'm fine, I swear, maybe just a little hungry." I said.

Steve nodded, ignoring my hunger comment and then looked at Tony. "Stark, are you seeing this?"

"I'm seeing, still working on believing." He replied and then looked around "Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asked, also wondering where he might be.

"Just keep me posted." Tony muttered and then pointed at the giant worm thing that flew past us "JARVIS, find me a soft spot."

Barton, who I have just seen for the first time in flesh and bone before me, pointed at me and said: "You need to get away from here."

"No." I said stubbornly "I have been through this much crap, I'm not going to hide now!"

"Can you fight?" Natasha asked."

"I… No." I replied in defeat.

"Then you'll just be in our way."

That word stung. It was true, but it still stung, knowing that I'm no use for them. Suddenly I remembered what they need to close the portal.

"I know how to close the portal!" I announced. They all looked at me, waiting for me to keep talking. "You will need Loki's scepter though." I finished.

"But how do we get to Loki's scepter?" Steve mused out loud, looking at Stark's tower.

The Chitauri keeps coming out from the portal, like a swarm of flies, attacking and destroying everything they see.

oOoOoOo

"_Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?"_

"_It's too late. It's too late to stop it."_

"_We can stop it together."_

"_Sentiment!"_

oOoOoOo

Chitauri warriors landed next to us.

Steve turned to Barton and pointed at them. "You think you can hold them off?" He asked.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Barton replied and took out an arrow, shooting at the Chitauri warrior along with Natasha.

Steve grabbed my hand and quickly dragged me away from them. Before they were out of my eye sight, I could hear how Natasha said to Clint: "Just like Budapest all over again!"

Clint replied with: "You and I remember Budapest very differently.

I wonder what happened in Budapest.

I had trouble to keep up with Steve's fast pace. Damn that super solider serum. We stopped in front of two police men, who were eating donuts and drinking coffees, watching the whole scene like it was a 4D movie.

One of them said: "Does the army know what's happening here?"

"Do we?" The other one asked back.

Steve then let go of me and jumped in front of them. "I need men in these buildings. There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway; you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

Both polices looked at us with a raised eyebrow. I can only imagine the things that are going through their mind now. A grown up man in a blue tight suit and a teenage girl, trying to give them order. Well, Steve giving the order, I'm just standing by stupidly, not really knowing what to do.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" The police man asked rudely.

Suddenly two Chitauri warriors appeared, ready to attack us. Steve quickly charged at one. I saw that the other one turned over and looked at a small boy, who was standing few meters away, crying. The Chitauri slowly moved towards him, his weird looking weapon ready to shoot anytime.

I began to panic and looked at the two police men, wondering why they aren't doing anything. They were too busy watching Steve fight. People were running for their life, screaming and ignoring that young boy.

Out of instinct I ran to him, kneeled down so I was at his eye level. "C'mon boy, you have to leave now." I said to him, wiping his tears away with my hoodie sleeve.

The young boy just shook his head and cried some more. I turned back and saw that the Chitauri warrior came closer and closer. Steve was still busy fighting the other one.

It pointed its weapon at us. The boy clung to me, and I put my arms around him, closing my eyes and fearing the worst. The sound of how a blast went off could be heard and I prepared myself for the worst. But just like in Stuttgart that time, the blast never hit us.

Huh, must be because of the Tesseract energy inside me.

I looked at the Chitauri warrior and waited for his next move. It only stared at me, but then turned away and charged at Steve. Steve fought it off easily.

I took the little boy's hand and looked around for his parents, while the police repeated Steve's order to his subordinate. "I need men in those buildings, lead the people down and away from the streets."

"Steve, I don't think the Chitauri warriors are going to attack me." I said to him "You see, I have Tesseract energy flowing inside me- don't give me that look, and it's basically protecting me. I'm going to look for this boy's parents now!" I motioned at the crying boy who was holding my hand.

Steve opened his mouth to say something, but got interrupted by Thor, who did a gracious landing on the ground. "The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." He said.

Soon Tony joined us in his Iron Man suit. "Thor is right; we gotta deal with these guys." He pointed at the Chitauri warriors that are causing lots of havocs.

While the others were discussing their battle plan, I looked up at Stark's tower.

I wonder what Loki is thinking right now. Does he still want to be king? Is he ever going to regret his actions? Or is he still trying to get his father's approval? Did he plan this everything during those two years after his fall from the Bifrost? I remember out conversation earlier in the jet, when I said that I was too busy having my feelings hurt, he said that he was too. I guess it's a really touchy subject for him, being a Frost Giant and all that jazz. But, he has feelings. And it burns and hurts him to talk about it, I think. I had the sudden urge to see him.

Banner then arrived with a motorcycle. He stepped off of it and walked to the Avengers. I used this small distraction and ran away. My destination of course was Stark's tower, the penthouse. Although I don't really want to go there back again (especially after my marvelous escape), there was this aching feeling to go back and try to talk some senses into Loki. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that they were still busy with planning a battle strategy.

"Come now, we're going to look for your mommy and daddy now." I reassured the boy and dragged him along through the crowds of running people.

The boy nodded and then started to shout. "Mom! Mom! Where are you?". We did that for a while until we spotted another two polices and a young woman talking to them, crying.

"Mom, I'm here!" the boy screamed, let go of my hand and run to the crying woman.

"Jack? Jack!" The woman opened her arms and embraced 'Jack' into a tight hug. "Where were you?"

"I'm sorry, mom, I won't walk off again." he said and then pointed at me "She saved me from aliens and helped me to find you."

The woman looked at me with tear streamed face and gave me a grateful smile. "Thank you so much. I will never forget that."

I returned the smile and then turned around, running toward Stark's tower.

oOoOoOo

"_Director Fury, the council has made a decision."_

"_I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid assed decision, I've elected to ignore it."_

"_Director, you're closer than any of our subs, you scramble that jet…"_

"_That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I'm certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population."_

"_If we don't hold them in the air, we lose everything…"_

"_I'd sent that bird out, we already have."_

oOoOoOo

I was back in Stark's tower. On my way not a single Chitauri attacked me. Well, some approached me and wanted to, but then they just left me alone, giving me not too much trouble to get to the tower. Now I was standing in the lobby. It was empty. I looked back and forth between the fire stairs and the elevator. Okay, I don't really feel like going up the whole way by stairs. I'm sure that everything will be over before I could reach the top, so yeah, it's the elevator then. I decided to ignore the not-using-the-elevator-in-emergency-rule and pressed the button for going up. The elevator door opened and I stepped in, pressing the button for Stark's penthouse.

In the background there was running some elevator music. I recognized the melody as 'Rondo a Capriccio- Rage Over a Lost Penny' by Beethoven. I didn't know Tony was into classic. Or maybe Pepper chose the music.

Arriving at the penthouse floor, the elevator made an annoying 'PING' sound. I stepped out of it, and quickly looked around. The door outside was open, and Loki was standing there, holding his scepter, looking over Manhattan. Can't say that he looks really, well, happy that 'everything is going according to his plan'.

Loki turned his head to looks at me when I stepped through the door. The wind was blowing into my face. His face morphed into a slightly insane smile, which bothered me bit. Someone please call the people from the insane asylum?

"Have you come to see how I finally can take over Midgard?" He asked and spread out his arms, showing me the chaos in Manhattan.

"You need to take off that armor, put some real clothes on, step out of the door and GET A FUCKING LIFE!" I ranted.

"Hm, I have to admit, I am rather surprised to see you still alive. "He mused while looking me from head to toe "I was sure that you would be already killed by the Chitauri."

"They won't," I said lamely "but you probably would have if haven't escaped."

Loki now turned his body fully to me. "Why did you come back?"

I took a deep shaky breath before answering. "Remember what I said about you being brainwashed?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, well could it be that perhaps you got brainwashed again?" I asked.

Loki laughed hollowly. "I was never brainwashed, you foolish mortal. _He_ showed me things none of you have ever seen, _he_ gave me new knowledge, new reasons and a new purpose."

I summed everything he said up with four words: "He fucking brainwashed you."

Loki now started to walk toward me with a murderous look in his face. This time I stood right there where I was.

"Now listen, you pathe-" Before he could finish that sentence, something big and green tackled him and threw him through a window into Stark's penthouse. His scepter stayed outside though.

"Banner!" I yelled in happiness. Banner- or Hulk, looked at me and gave me a grin. I hope that Bruce is happy to see me.

I followed Hulk inside the penthouse. Loki stood up and shouted at Hulk: "Enough! You are all of you beneath me! I am God, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-"

Instead of letting him finish, Hulk grabbed Loki by his leg and smashed him against the floor, like I always did with my plushy when I was small, and finally threw him aside to the ground. There was a Loki landmark now.

"Puny God." Hulk spat out as he stomped away, leaving me behind with Loki who was whimpering in pain. I stood there not far away, jaw open, still not believing what I just saw. If I had the chance, I would have recorded and watch it every time until the repeat button doesn't work anymore. Sadly SHIELD confiscated my iPhone. Or else I would have already taken pictures of him.

I looked out of the crashed window and saw Loki's scepter lying there on the ground, and then saw how Natasha landed on the top of Stark's tower, next to Selvig. I stepped outside. Romanoff was talking to him.

I quickly grabbed the scepter, but then the electricity feelings came back and I let the scepter fall again, shaking my hands as they were burning slightly. I have completely forgotten about that one.

"Jackie!" Natasha yelled and pointed at the scepter "We need the scepter to close the portal!"

I nodded and took a deep breath. But how am I supposed to hold the scepter without burning my hands? I then took off my hoodie and used it to grab the scepter. The electricity feeling was still there, but not as strong as before. The wind blew; I was freezing slightly in my tank top. Ignoring the chill I ran to Natasha and handed her the scepter.

"Thank you." She said and then called the Avengers through her ear piece "Guys, I found Jackie. She's at Stark's tower. She seems unharmed. I have Loki's scepter. I can close the portal! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

While she was still calling the others, I suddenly remembered that Stark is going to blew up the Chitauri mother shop with an atomic bomb or something like that.

"Wait, Natasha, there is a-" I started to say, but then I saw how Stark came flying with a bomb. He flew straight into the portal. An explosion sound came out of the portal. I looked up. Still no sign of Tony. What if he didn't make it? Would this be his last sacrifice for human kind? I've never really talked to Tony, like I wanted to. He wasn't such a bad guy after all, just a bit sarcastic in serious situations, but nice and caring. A genius will be missed. Just as everyone lost hope and Natsaha unwillingly used Loki's scepter to close the portal, there was a man falling from the . His name is Tony Stark, the man wearing the Platinum suit. Iron Man. He made it just in time! He fell out of the portal in a mad speed, not slowing down a bit.

"He's not slowing down!" I yelled and leaned over the railing. Won't JARVIS do anything?

The green shape appeared on one of the buildings, arms stretched out. Hulk readied himself. We all stared, being able to do nothing but hope and pray. The man in rusted red and gold disappeared behind a huge unnecessary advertisement sign. The next time I saw him was in Hulk's muscular arms. I sighed in relief and sank to the floor.

"You had us all worried when you disappeared like that." Natasha said after recovering and looked down at me "Warn us the next time when you decide to wander off like that."

I nodded meekly at what she said.

"Wait." I called her back as she walked off, suddenly remember something "Did you left the door to Loki's cell wide open, that time on the Helicarrier?"

Natasha stared at me for a long time, and then said: "It was Fury's order, to let you interface with Loki. I just gave you a small push that time, though I was truly against that idea." With that, she walked into Stark's penthouse, where the others are already waiting, confronting Loki.

I just stayed there where I was, sitting on the floor and looked up at the sky.

The sun was shining brightly.

The war is finally over now.


	10. Chapter 10

**asdfghjkl I can't believe it, it's really the last chapter _ I never thought I'd actually be able to complete a story (normally they get deleted before they are even published) **

**Well, this chapter is mostly made of dialouges, because well, personally I think that it has got a... better effect xD And a tiny little LokixOC moment, but not much really, barely count as it :P Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Jackie Walker**

* * *

Chapter X

In Which Loki Still Gets His Well Deserved Hug

"_Good news, Jackie. According to the newest analysis from your blood samples, the Tesseract energy has completely disappeared."_

"_Oh, that's good. Thanks, Bruce."_

"_You're welcome."_

"_So… Are you going back to help other people now?"_

"_Mhm. It helps me to keep the other guy tame."_

"_But you have learned to control him a bit, haven't you?"_

"_Maybe, but I don't want to risk anything."_

"… _Do you think he's a monster?"_

"_The other guy?"_

"_No, I mean Loki…"_

"_That's… Hard for me to say. Why are you asking?"_

"_No reasons. It's nothing serious…"_

"_How are you feeling?"_

"_Dunno. I'm thinking about getting therapy maybe."_

"_It was an adventure for you, wasn't it? How your life turned from normal to exciting."_

"_You have no idea, Bruce, you have no idea…"_

oOo

"_You are a brave human, for going back to the tower, even though you knew my brother could have harmed you."_

"_Oh you know, I had a feeling he wouldn't have."_

"_But why did you returned?"_

"_I guess I wanted to, well, open his eyes. I still believe that he's not evil by heart. He's misunderstood, maybe."_

"_Loki has always felt like an outcast, different from the other Asgardians. The truth about his heritage was too much for him to handle."_

"_I know. But it's still not an excuse for what he did though. Understandable, but not an excuse."_

"_He will face his punishment in front if the Allfather as an Asgardian criminal."_

"… _Don't be too harsh on him, okay? Sure Loki has fucked up lots of shit, but he has also gone through a lot, so…"_

"… _Jackie, is that what you Midgardian call a 'crush'? Are you 'crushing' on my baby brother?"_

"_No, I just simply have a weakness for dark characters, and maybe I care about him a tiny little bit… Jesus, Thor, stop giving me that suggestive look! Loki is far too old for me! You shouldn't have spent so much time with Tony, sheesh…"_

"_My apologies, Jackie. I wish my brother would acknowledge that there are people who care about him."_

"_Maybe you should talk to him."_

"_He won't listen."_

"_Maybe I should talk to him…"_

"_Pardon?"_

"_Nothing. Just talking to myself."_

oOo

"_Hey, I'm Jackie Walker."_

"…"

"_I know you're asleep right now, and you probably can't hear me, but anyway, Natasha left me in, soooo I thought 'Yeah, why now, I'll talk to Birdy a bit. Haven't gotten the chance yet.'"_

"…"

"_You know, Natasha talks a lot about you. Well, actually I don't really know, since I have never really talked with her, but I think she likes you. Like, really really really like you. You are probably wondering why I'm telling you this. I just thought you should know. Anyway, did you watch the movie 'Brave'? The main character, Merida I think, she reminds me of you and Natasha, because of her red hair and that she's good in archery and-"_

"_Do you always talk this much?"_

oOo

"_Loki is defeated, Earth is safe again, and the Avengers have gone their separate ways. What are you going to do now, Jackie?"_

"_Beats me. What do you suggest, oh great Jedi Mace Windu."_

"_Surely you don't believe that after all that happened your life will ever be the same again?"_

"_My life isn't the same anymore since I met Steve Rogers in the streets of Manhattan."_

"_Steve Rogers apartment building got destroyed during the alien invasion while yours is still intact, undamaged."_

"_And you are telling me that because…"_

"_SHIELD needs to keep an eye on both you and him. We decided to let him reside in the empty apartment next to yours. It is also a great opportunity for you to teach him new things about the 21__st__ century."_

"_Can't somebody else do that?"_

"_You two get along fairly well. Besides, Rogers needs someone to make sure he isn't skipping any meals."_

"… _Are you fucking kidding me?"_

"_I am dead serious. He will be moving in next week."_

"… _Shoot me now."_

oOo

"_Sup Steve, watcha doing?"_

"_Oh hey Jackie. I'm packing some stuff, since I will be moving into a new apartment."_

"_Yeah, I've heard. We're going to be neighbors."_

"… _Excuse me?"_

"_Oh, Mad-Eye didn't tell you that? Well, your new apartment is right next to mine, so SHIELD can better keep an eye on us."_

"… _That's… Great?"_

"_Great that we're going to be neighbors or that SHIELD is watching us 24/7?"_

"…"

"_Do you need help with packing?"_

oOo

"_JayJay! Come and join good old Tony and have a drink!"_

"_No thanks. I'm still a minor."_

"_Laws are meant to be broken."_

"…"

"… _You think alcohol is beneath you, don't you?"_

"_I don't think they are beneath me, they just taste like shit."_

"_My alcohol has feelings too, you know."_

"_Yeah, right."_

"_So I heard American Boy is going to be your neighbor soon."_

"_I don't know whether I should fangirl now or just bury myself alive."_

"_Please don't fangirl over someone else in my presence. Anyway, we were thinking about going to a shawarma restaurant. You want to come?"_

"_What the hell is shawarma?"_

"_I have no idea, but it sounds cool. So you're in?"_

"_No, there is someone I want to visit. In fact, Uncle Tony, I will need your help…"_

oOo

"_Uhm hey."_

"…"

"_So yeah, you're probably wondering why I am here right now. To be honest, I don't know either. I guess I just felt like coming down and visiting you, you know. I mean, it does get a bit lonely here down… Well, maybe you want to be left alone, but still, I want to talk to you a bit. Or maybe I'm just here because of my own selfish desires."_

"…"

"_You don't have to say anything, if you don't feel like. Mind if I sit down there? No? Okay… Well, I guess I always kind of knew that this was going to happen, so I was uh, prepared for this all, mentally, emotionally. Or so I though. I guess knowing everything doesn't make you stronger or wiser… Anyway, I wanted to apologize to you. You know, that day on the Helicarrier, where I quoted your line from the time where you found out about your true heritage? Yeah, I'm sorry. You probably don't like to talk or think about it. Just so you know, it is partly Odin's fault. He really could have told you from the beginning everything, but I guess maybe he just didn't know how to approach that subject. And you're probably wondering how I even knew all this stuff. Well, since you are going back to Asgard, I guess I can tell you everything, I doubt we are going to meet again, though I really wish we would… Anyway, where I come from, you, Thor, Asgard, the Avengers, and the Tesseract, all of this were comics, movies and TV series about you guys, and that was basically my information source. Except all of this is gone now. Just like this. I suspect a dimension travel thing through the Tesseract, which is funny because I don't even remember being near it. But that's not the point. Point is that what I know about you is from other people's point of view, and I'd like to hear your side of the story. I think that what I know doesn't explain everything; there is always two side of a story. You were always a character that interested me. The others may hate you for what you did, but I don't. And I don't think I could ever hate you. And I'm sorry. So yeah, that's everything I wanted to say. I think I'll better leave now before SHIELD catches me down here. Thanks for listening."_

"… _Thank you."_

"…_!"_

oOoOoOo

I stood there on the sidewalk next to Natasha and Clint. Today is the day where Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard. Loki was out in handcuffs, and his mouth was muffed so he couldn't speak.

"My friends," Thor said and looked at us "thank you all for helping me finding my brother. I will never forget you and I hope we will meet again someday. But for now I shall return back to Asgard. Midgard will always be under my protection, so do no fear if there is another threat, for I will always be there to help."

Everyone gave Thor a handshake, a hug and a few words of goodbyes, such as 'take care of you' and 'see you again'. When it was my turn Thor literally swept me off my feet and had me in a really tight hug.

"Jackie, take care of yourself too. We may have not done much together, but I won't forget you easily. You are still young; you have your whole life before you." Thor said and out me back on the ground.

"Send me a postcard!" I said jokingly and had to laugh at Thor's face, obviously not knowing what a postcard was.

"So long, my friends!" Thor began "It's time for us to leave."

While Thor took the Tesseract out of the safety suitcase, I looked at Loki. His face still had few bruises and cuts, his eyes looked empty. He kept his face at the ground, not wanting to look anyone in the eyes.

"Wait!" I suddenly said before Thor could teleport themselves away. Everyone looked at me.

I ran toward Loki, who finally dares to raise his head and looked at me. Much to everyone's surprise, I pout my arms around Loki's neck, and hugged him. I felt him stiffen slightly but then he relaxed.

Standing on my foot, I said next to his ear so only Loki could hear: "You're not a monster."

I then pulled away. Loki stared at me. I took a step back and made the peace sign. "Take care of you." And with that, the two Gods disappeared.

I stood there for a while before finally going back to the others.

"That was… Unexpected." Clint said, glaring at me slightly.

I only offered him a cheeky grin. "I know birdy, I know. But so is everything that happened in the last past days."

"But you survived it." Tony said and ruffled my hair, much to my dismay.

I pushed his arm away and replied: "Well, I guess I was always step ahead everyone else."

Or not.

oOoOoOo

"_Where are the Avengers?"_

"_I'm not currently tracking their whereabouts. I'd say they've earned a leave of absence."_

"_And the Tesseract?"_

"_The Tesseract is where it belongs, out of our reach."_

"_That's not your call."_

"_I didn't make it. I just didn't argue with the God that did."_

"_So you let him take it and the war criminal, Loki, who should be answering for his crime."_

"_Oh, I think he will be."_

"_I don't think you understand what you've started, letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous."_

"_They surely are, and the whole world knows it. Every world knows it."_

"_Was that the point in all this? A statement?"_

"_A promise."_

"_Sir, how does it work now? They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"_

"_They'll come back."_

"_And what are you going to do about that teenager?"_

"_For now, we'll just keep an eye on her. Maybe we will have some use of her in the near future. Perhaps she could join SHIELD, I see great potential in her."_

"_Are you really sure about that?"_

"_I am."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because we'll need them to."_

oOoOoOo

Entry #10

I guess for now I have enough adventure. May this be not my last one, no matter how I sometimes wish it would be. School is going to start again in four weeks, but for now I will just enjoy my life the fullest and not postpone things I want to do, such as watching a movie.

Signed Jackie Walker.

oOoOoOo

* * *

**Special thanks to my sister, who I forced to read every single chapter before publishing to make sure that they are okay, pointing out few things and giving me her honest opnion. **

**Special thanks to ConfusedSoAmI, who reads every story of mine and reviews every chapter I update, and a special thanks to all those great people on fanfiction, guests and anonymous reviewers (Way too many to name, over hundereds :D) who took their time to read this story, review it, fave, alert it, told me to keep writing cause they want to read more and patiently waited for an update! Without you guys, I'd probably never complete this story, so a big big big thank you!**

**I hope you guys will also follow the sequel 'One Step Aside' (creative title, isn't it :P) I think the first chapter will most likely be up this week... **

* * *

Epilogue

_Five weeks later…_

"What's up, big guy?"

"The ceiling." 'Big guy' answered seriously.

I furrowed my brows at his answer, but decided to ignore his lack of humor and went straight to the point: "Care to share why you suddenly decided to invite me to a tea party in my own home?"

Fury looked at me for a long time, his gaze calculating something, probably wondering whether he should tell me what he wanted to say or not.

Meanwhile I took another sip of my tea and grimaced at the taste. I didn't out enough sugar in it.

"How's Rogers doing do far?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Lately he's been dragging me to every single museum in New York City, trying to learn some new stuff. And his cooking's are _horrible_."

Fury let a small smile pass his face, but it quickly disappeared.

"But you're not here about Steve." I put down the tea cup and grabbed an Oreo cookie "You are here for me."

Macey (I call him that secretly because of Mace Windu) took a sip from his black coffee. "SHIELD may require your assistance. We are lacking little information and I wonder if you could help us."

I pressed my lips into a thin line. I knew what Fury meant: He - beside Steve and Loki- is the only one who knows that I'm from a different dimension. The others just think that I'm a strange girl. Now Fury probably wants to use this fact for his advantage because apparently he's too lazy to send out SHIELD agents to investigate and research stuff.

"It depends on what you're lacking information of. But I think that most of the stuffs are already known by SHIELD, so yeah… "I trailed off. Bad for him I'm not about to spill out everything I know.

The SHIELD director probably took my answer as a yes, because now he grabbed into his jacket and pulled out a thick folder. I wonder how it fits into that jacket pocket.

He opened the folder and handed me two papers. They were files about two different people.

Curtis Connor and Richard Parker.

* * *

**hint hint hint for the sequel :P**


End file.
